Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all started with a late-night phone call. It was about 11pm and Tony was in his lab packing stuff away as he wouldn’t be in there for a while. Pepper was in their baby’s room, half asleep in the rocking chair as she nursed their newborn, Morgan.

Groggy and lethargic from his first week as a father, Tony was tempted not to answer the ringing phone, but the fear that it might be some sort of emergency won out. He couldn’t remember ever being this tired, and that was coming from a man who used to go days without sleep, and practically lived off of coffee. The thrill and exhaustion of his daughter’s birth followed by a week of getting use to the new routine of having a baby around had really done him over.

“Tony Stark.”

“Hi, yeah, we have a kid here who needs somewhere to stay tonight, can you do it?”

“Sorry, what?” His sleep-fogged brain cleared as he tried to deduce who could be on the other side of the phone, since they hadn’t bothered to give a name. Given the fact that they were asking him to take in a kid, Tony could only guess that it was someone in relation to social services.

“We have a kid in need of an emergency placement, like, now. Can you do it?”

Okay… so more than likely social services. Why the hell were they calling? They hadn’t heard off of them in months, after they’d  said that they wanted to wait a few years before fostering to look after their daughter.

“We’re not an approved placement.” He informed the man on the phone, because surely this had to be some sort of mistake, he couldn’t figure out how them getting called out of the blue to take in a kid would make sense otherwise. “We said we wanted to wait a few years, we just had a baby so we can’t have another little kid running around.”

“He’s fourteen, so you don’t really have to watch him, you just need to give him food and a place to sleep.”

This felt like a trick somehow… Last year he and Pepper had been having a tone of arguments about what they wanted to do now that things had calmed down after the fight against Thanos, which they’d won after Thor struck him in the head with his hammer. Pepper wanted to settle down, she was tired of living in fear for his life, and Tony… Tony was ready to settle down too. Something he’d never thought would happen. They were older, so they figured maybe having a baby wasn’t the best way to go about starting a family, they didn’t want to risk having any complications with birth. They thought about fostering, because why wouldn’t they want to provide a home for a kid in need? They had more than enough to share. But then Pepper had gotten pregnant and just like that all of their previous reservations about having a baby had faded as they prepared for their baby girl’s entrance into the world.

“We’ll take him off of you in a few days, just one or two nights max, we’re just looking for a place to leave him while we find somewhere more permanent that’s capable of dealing with his kind of trauma.” The social worker continued, breaking through Tony’s spiralling thoughts. Trauma?

“If he needs help, what makes you think we can handle it?” He asked instead, as he knew he’d personally hate it if some stranger was prying into his issues.

“It says you’ve suffered from PTSD, so already you’d be better than most at dealing with him if you have experience in what he’s going through. Not that he’s really a behavioural problem, very withdrawn actually. Literally all you’d have to do is provide him with a bed and feed him.”

Really going above and beyond for this kid, weren’t they? Also, PTSD? What the hell had happened to this poor fourteen year old to curse him with that? He didn’t like the way the man said ‘dealing with him’ as though the kid having issues somehow made him a burden, and he was also mildly annoyed at the way the social worker was generalising the mental illness. He was sure what haunted his mind was vastly different to what plagued this boy’s one, but still, he found himself soften as he empathised with this poor kid whom he didn’t even know.

“We just moved into a new house, our guest room isn’t even set up yet.” He said, to convince himself more than anyone. Because no, he couldn’t do this, they couldn’t do this. Not right now. This had come at perhaps the worst time, what with everything going on in their lives right now.

“Do you have a mattress, or a sofa?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s good enough, look, I can’t sit around and chat, do you want the kid or not? Because he’s about to be discharged and currently he has no where to go. So if you don’t want him I’ll have to call a bunch of other people.”

Something about the way he phrased that made Tony feel immensely guilty. It was probably how he said ‘don’t want him’, because it’s not like he had anything against the kid, he hadn’t even met him, he just couldn’t take him in right now. He knew that, so he didn’t know why he felt a sense of panic as the social worker talked about moving on to other people. Maybe it was the way the social worker’s uncaring attitude made him worry about what place he’d dump the kid in if he said no, or maybe it was the pure fact that he was childish and someone threatening to take something away from him made him want it more. Who’s to know?

“What do you mean by discharged? Where is he?” He asked to both buy some time to reasonablise saying either yes or no to taking the boy in, and out of mild curiosity.

“ER, don’t let that scare you off though, he got into a bad time with his last foster family, ended up with a few bruises and a broken bone. They just need to finish doing the rape kit and then he’ll be on his merry way.”

Holy shit! Excuse me?

“What’s his name?” He asked through gritted teeth as he tried not to lash out at the man and his nonchalant attitude, mind made up on keeping the boy.

“Peter. His name is Peter Parker.”

“I’ll take him.” Pepper is going to kill me.

Chapter Text

“They agreed to let you stay with them, and it wasn’t easy. So you better be on your best behaviour.”

He’d heard this speech thousands of times before, for each new foster family and with each different social worker unfortunate enough to be tasked with driving him. Peter knew by now what an inconvenience he was, and that no one actually wanted him to be in their home. Why would they? There were plenty of younger kids out there with a lot less issues than what he had. And that was just for the far and few in between families that fostered because they actually wanted to look after kids, unlike the other ninety percent who did it for either the money, to look good, or just to have their own personal punching bag. He already knew the next thing that was going to come out of the man’s mouth, “Don’t cause trouble, keep your head down, and maybe then you won’t end up in another situation like this. It’s only for a night or two.”

Normally Peter would have said something in his own defence, because no, it wasn’t his fault what they all did to him. The Ransoms, the Robberts, the Latharios, the Milers, and now the… the Carsons. Even through all of the drugs raging through his system he couldn’t help but shiver as he thought about his most recent family.

But that was Peter from seven months ago, before… them, now he couldn’t find it in himself to argue, he’d lost that along with everything else during the first few weeks at the Carson’s.

It couldn’t get much worse after that, could it? That was what he thought after every home, but he was always proved wrong, so, as Mr Chase turned a corner into a more wooded area, away from any main roads and mumbled that they weren’t far now, Peter squeezed his eyes closed and rested his head against the cold, glass window.

He was exhausted and he couldn’t take another one, please not another one. But he had no choice in the matter as Mr Chase pulled up in front of a decently sized cabin, telling him to get out of the car as this was where he’d be staying for the next few nights.

~~~~~

“I can’t believe you agreed to this without asking me.” Pepper said, not for the first time, as they rushed around trying to sort out the guest room for the arrival of Peter, who’d be there any minute. Tony couldn’t help but sigh and roll his eyes, it was nearing midnight and Morgan was actually asleep for once, something they should be doing while they could but instead they were pushing boxes against the wall and digging through stuff in search of the bedsheets which they knew were somewhere, but they couldn’t find them.

“I told you, I wasn’t given much choice.” A lie, he knew logically he could’ve very easily hung up or just said no- he’d declined people on much more serious issues before without an issue- but for some reason with this he just couldn’t fathom not agreeing to taking the kid in. The kid he hadn’t even met. Pepper looked at him incredulously before continuing to lay down the blanket on the mattress (which would have to work as a bottom sheet for now) and unfolding the quilt. “It’s only for a few nights.”

Only a few nights, only a few nights. He kept repeating to himself like a mantra, they could put up with anything for a few nights.

“I’m not saying I would have said no, you just should have asked first. You always do this, Tony!”

“I’m sorry? I don’t remember ever agreeing to house some random kid before.”

“I don’t mean that, it’s just you always make these stupid rash decisions and then I somehow always end up having to fix them.” She said, and just as Tony opened his mouth to respond with something that would likely get him into more trouble, he paused when he saw how completely exhausted she looked.

“Pep-” he reached to put a hand on her shoulder and she leaned into his touch.

“Just tell me about him, did the social worker say why it is Peter requires such immediate re-housing?” She’d put on her calm façade now, in control and level headed. Ready to take on whatever could happen.

“He was in the hospital, the guy on the phone was an asshole and didn’t tell me anything about what happened.” A half lie, he didn’t actually know what had happened but he did know, to a certain extent, what sort of injuries it had resulted in.

Ordinarily, he would have just told her, as he knew she valued the truth and needed information to feel like she had a handle on things, but ever since the birth her emotions had been running rampant as more hormones were released, and he didn’t want to upset her on top of everything else. It seemed his sentiment was not appreciated as she gave him a halfhearted glare that clearly stated she was going to find out eventually so he should just fess up before he drove both himself and her up the wall.

“He said he got into a bad time with his last placement, and ended up with a broken bone and… and they had to do a rape kit.”

A brief flash of fury passed over her otherwise stony face, until her expression changed and she gave a fake, tight lipped smile before opening her mouth to most likely say something along the lines of ‘I guess that leaves me with no choice but to find the person responsible and rip their ball sack off’ but she was cut off by a knocking on the door.

”Sir, there is a man and a young boy on the front porch.”

“Thank you, FRIDAY.” He said, rubbing at his temples where he felt a headache forming.

“Come on, let’s go get that poor boy into bed.”

Just a few nights. Just a few nights.

~~~~~

A man walked in through the door, a bored and disinterested look on his face. His hand resting on the shoulder of a small boy, a boy whose face was unseeable bowed down and with a mop of messy hair covering it. The man was half guiding, half pushing him into the room.

“Mr and Mrs Stark, pleasure. We spoke over the phone.” He said, giving the boy another shove into the room and it became apparent to them that if it weren’t for the manhandling he wouldn’t have come in.

“Yeah, yeah, charmed. I still don’t know your name.” Tony said in a short tone, briefly shaking the man’s hand before wiping his own on the jeans he was wearing.

“Samuel Chase, sorry, I was in a rush earlier. You were my fifth call; no one else was willing to take him.”

Wow, did he really just say that in front of the kid?  Judging by Pepper’s icy glare, she had the same thought. She then turned to the boy, bending her knees a bit to be closer to his level. “And you must be Peter,” she said, with a soft smile. All traces of annoyance she’d felt earlier gone as she saw this poor child. “I’m Pepper, and this is Tony. It’s nice to meet you.”

At their names, the boy perked up a bit, something probably clicking in his head now that he’d heard both their first and last names. He lifted his head for just a second before bowing it down again, whole body remaining tense.

He was skinny, and not just the type of small stature that came with being an awkward, not fully grown, gangly teenager. His stature was starved, enough so that his face was gaunt and the clothes he was wearing hung off of him like a tent. His arm was in a sling, probably the broken bone they’d heard about, and around his neck they could just about see the dark marks of a handprint.

“Peter, don’t be rude, say something. What must they think of you?” Chase chastised, and Tony grit his teeth to stop himself from saying something to the man that he’d likely- or not so likely- regret.

A small twitchy hand movement that faintly resembled a wave was all they got in response, but Pepper smiled proudly at the boy.

“What happened to your arm, kid?” Tony spoke to the boy for the first time, and it was notable that he shuffled half a step back at his voice.

“His shoulder blade is broken.” Chase answered for him (not that they were actually expecting the boy to answer, but it was worth a try).

“Oh, I’ve never heard of anyone breaking that bone before.” Pepper said, trying to prompt a response from the child.

“It’s not very common, it requires quite a lot of force to break.” Chase, again, replied.

“Oh…” Pepper’s face dropped as all of the possible scenarios ran through her head. It sounded planned, obviously the person who did it knew what they were doing, it wasn’t just a punishment or a brief lash of anger (granted, that wouldn’t have been great either) gone wrong. Someone had to have purposely hurt this poor kid, and they must have tried hard to do it. What could have possessed someone to do that?  Why would someone ever want to hurt a child that badly? Tony’s vision was turning red the longer he stood there, he needed to do something, ideally with his hands, to take his mind off of the avenge spree it was conjuring.

“Would you like me to show you to your room, sweetheart? It’s a bit of a mess, I’m afraid, because we only just moved in last Sunday, but you’ll have it all to yourself and I’m sure you’d like to get all of us out of your hair.” Pepper walked a few paces expecting him to follow her, but Peter remained frozen.

“Does he have any stuff, or…” anything?  Peter was wearing a hospital gown and a pair of threadbare scrub bottoms. On his feet were some oversized sandals that must have been from lost and found. It was October… Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to know what had happened to the boy’s other clothes to make them unwearable.

“Peter, did you bring your stuff when the police got you?” Chase snapped, making the boy jump just a little before fearfully shaking his head no. “Ugh, impossible, now someone will have to go and get them, won’t they?” He spoke the last bit to the boy in a loud tone, a tone one would use with someone they thought were slow or short of hearing. And Christ, give the poor kid a break.

“M-my ca-camera?”

Pepper and Tony had to do a double take when the boy spoke for the first time. Peter’s head tilted just a little bit to the side, in the direction of the social worker, and when the man slapped a hand on the boy’s skinny shoulder with a loud groan, he almost jumped out of his skin. “Can you believe it? The people he lived with for the last seven months are facing jail time and all he’s bothered about is a stupid camera.” He said this to Tony and Pepper, as though they were supposed to find it funny, but he turned back to the boy when he saw the matching unimpressed looks on both of their faces. The camera very clearly meant something to him if he specifically asked for it, and given the fact that he literally had nothing else he was more than deserving to get what he wanted. “I’ll look tomorrow, no promises.” Again with that stupid tone.

“Keep talking to him like that and you’re going to be the one in need of the emergency room.”

As soon as the words came out of Tony’s mouth, Pepper turned to glare at him (a small glint of amusement in her eyes) Chase blinked at him in shock before breaking off into a small, nervous chuckle, and Peter’s eyes widened.

“We’ll get your camera back, Peter.” Pepper said, breaking the silence they’d slipped into. Every time she looked at the boy a warm smile crossed her face, and that did something to Tony’s heart that he couldn’t quite explain. “Why don’t you sit down while we go over everything, I’m sure you’re tired.” She gestured to the sofa and after another shove from Chase, the boy cautiously inched towards it. After glancing up at all three of the adults to check that it was okay and nothing was afoot, he lowered himself down right to the edge of the sofa. Unbelievably tense, as though expecting the furniture to eat him alive at any moment.

“Is there anything you need to give us?” Pepper asked in a quieter tone, not wanting Peter to hear their conversation as it was bound to be triggering for the boy.

Unfortunately, Chase didn’t seem to get the memo. “Oh, yes, here’s his medical file from today. It’s just some information about his injuries, what he was diagnosed with, a statement, and an overall examination that could be used in court. You’re not entitled to his actual file as you’re only providing him housing for a day or two, but the doctors thought it would be a good idea if you knew what you were dealing with.”

He said all of this in a bored tone, and handed Pepper a thick file. She flicked through it, not really reading it, and all Tony could think was how much he’d hate it if random people got access to a file about everything wrong with him and all of the stuff he’d done as a teenager. He’d hacked into SHIELD database tons of times to remove stuff from his profile that he didn’t want anyone to know, but the boy didn’t have any choice what information was shared about him. If they had been given the kid’s proper file, he didn’t think he’d read it.

“Okay, well, I’ll be off now.” Chase said, and as he reached for the door Peter looked up at him in alarm. Even that small action seemed to make the kid wince in pain.

“Wait, does he have anything for the pain?”

“They drugged him up enough at the hospital, I’m surprised he’s even still up and talking to you.”

Hardly. He’d said two words and not even to them. Although, at least that might explain why he seemed so… so jumpy and spaced out. Any other possible reason for that was simply horrible to think about. “But what about for tomorrow?” Tony asked, he couldn’t help but feel worried about the kid. He didn’t want him to be in any sort of pain if there was a way they could prevent it.

Chase blinked at them for a moment or two, until something evidently clicked in his head and he reached back in to the satchel bag he’d pulled out the medical records from. “Right, yeah, here’s the prescription. Pick it up whenever.”

If they’d not thought to ask… would Peter have had to suffer without them? Before any more could be said the man pulled open the door and left, the sound of the lock clicking behind him booming in their heads as it signified the start of what, they didn’t know. Apparently they weren’t the only ones affected by the man’s departure, as both Pepper and Tony heard a shuddery intake of breath as soon as the door closed. Despite Chase being an utterly incapable knob head, he was still the only bit of familiarity and safety the boy had in a strange house with- oddly enough- strangers. It was only now that Tony realised how fucked up that was. A child being taken and left at stranger’s houses, and being told that that was where he was supposed to live now. It was no wonder Peter had been in situations where people could hurt him before.

“So uhh, do you maybe wanna come with me, kid? I’ll show you your room and we can look for some clothes for you?” Tony knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as he saw the horror filled expression that crossed the boy’s face. He’d had to get a rape test, obviously he’d see a strange man asking him to go to a bedroom and change clothes as a threat. Idiot.

Luckily, Pepper seemed to be in a much more capable headset to deal with this than he was, and smiled warmly at the boy again and asked, “Or, Tony can go get something for you to wear, and you and I can make ourselves something to drink?”

Peter seemed to relax at that, and with one look from Pepper Tony scurried off to go search for something comfortable and small enough for the boy to wear. He was kind of at a loss, as all of his clothes would positively drown the kid, and Pepper always wore more feminine things that would surely embarrass the teenager. But he had a task to do and he was damn well going to complete it.

With Tony gone, the boy seemed to relax ever so slightly and Pepper smiled sadly at the knowledge of why he’d consider him to be the biggest threat. When she cleared her throat though, he tensed straight back up, brown eyes almost staring directly into her soul. Broken, mistrustful eyes.

She made sure to smile sweetly at the teen, not letting any emotions slip onto her face when she saw the purple bruise on his cheekbone from the new angle she looked at him from. “Is tea okay?” It would probably calm his nerves a bit. Hesitantly, he nodded his head, fingers clenching the material of the back of the sofa where his hand now rested. The boy had almost fully turned around on the sofa in order to keep her in his eye sight as she walked across the large room to the adjoining kitchen. But his eyes also continued to flicker to the archway Tony had walked through not moments ago, waiting for him to come back.

About a minute later, she walked back into the room, carrying a tray with some cups of tea, some milk, and some cookies. The boy could do with some calories. She set it on the coffee table, and sat down on the other side of the sofa, sure to sit far away so that he wouldn’t feel cornered. Normally, she’d sit on the arm chair, but she was sure Peter would much prefer it if it were her that sat on the same sofa as him instead of Tony, as much as it broke her heart to admit.

“Do you take sugar?” She asked, and Peter didn’t respond for a moment as he debated whether it would be best to say no so that they wouldn’t have to waste the resource on him, or to just agree with everything she asked. Eventually, he nodded, and as he watched her stir the drink he couldn’t help but pick at the skin around his nails. He gave her a small smile, gut churning as he berated himself for not thanking her. He just couldn’t get the words out. She seemed to get the message in his smile though, as she gave him one back. Just one more thing they’ll hold against you until they decide to make you pay.

Pepper could feel him watching her, almost hypnotised as she raised the glass to her mouth to take a sip. She couldn’t really fault him, he was trying to learn all of her mannerisms and how she could hurt him, it was information he needed to feel somewhat safe. In the half an hour she’d known him she could already tell that he was a sweet boy, hurt beyond belief though and it would take a lot to get him to open up. Something in her repelled when she realised that she probably wouldn’t get to see that, they’d only have him for a few days after all.

She couldn’t quite understand how someone could hurt him like that, especially now that she was a mother and had a sudden connection with children. She remembered the social worker saying something about the people responsible facing jail time and a court case, and she positively yearned to see those beasts get the punishment they deserved. Coming out of her reverie when she lifted the glass to find it empty, she noticed that the boy was still watching her, and just as she was about to say something the voice of her husband made her stop.

“I found these, they should be alright to sleep in. Sorry if they’re a bit big.”

Pepper just about managed to take the glass off of the boy before he jumped and curled up into a ball on the sofa, shielding his head.

“Fuck, I— sorry kid, sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you like that.” He reached towards the boy but stopped when he let out a scared whimper and curled up even more, trying to make himself less of a target. “I’m sorry. I was just putting these down.”

Peter glanced up to see where his hands were going, and noticed the pile of folded clothes he was holding. He suddenly felt incredibly guilty for acting that way, when the man was just doing him a favour.

“Are these alright?” The question sounded like it was meant for Peter, but it was in fact aimed at Pepper as he looked towards her for approval. She gave a small nod of her head, and watched as Peter uncurled a bit to look at them.

“Sweetheart,” Pepper began, moving to the edge of the sofa and turning towards him to better address the boy. “Upstairs, on the right, is your bedroom. And you can either get changed in there or, if you’d prefer, the bathroom directly across from it. There’s a lock on the bathroom door if that would make you feel more comfortable.”

Peter blinked at her for a second, before nervously nodding his head. He slowly reached over to the clothes, hesitating just inches away from them as though waiting for his hands to be slapped back, before finally picking them up. He stood up, head bowing again, and nodded gratefully.

“We’re just going to watch a bit of TV, and you can go to bed if you want but if not you’re welcome to join us.” She offered, wanting more than anything to go to bed herself but she couldn’t just leave the boy alone on the off chance he didn’t want to go to bed. She was sure he would. Getting attacked, breaking a bone, a night at the ER, getting drugged up, and an hour drive before finally getting dropped off at a house, would leave anybody positively dying to just sleep it off. When Peter again nodded and wondered up the stairs she was sure they wouldn’t see him again until well into the morning. They’d give it forty minutes, just incase, and then go to bed themselves.

Tony plonked down onto the armchair with a groan, blindly reaching for a mug and lifting it up, before pulling back with furrowed brows at the taste. “Tea?”

“I told you, drinking coffee 24/7 is one of the main reasons your sleep schedule is as messed up as it is.”

He rolled his eyes, gulping down the tea as he’d take whatever little caffeine he could at the moment. “He’s scared of me.” He stated, no question about it as it was obviously true. Peter was scared of Tony. Pepper too, and everything that moved by the looks of it, but mainly Tony.

“It’s not your fault.” She said, and wanted to say something along the lines of ‘it will get better’ but could they really fault the boy if he didn’t get better after what he’d gone through? Even if he did- which she sincerely hopes he will- they wouldn’t be there to see it.

“Have you read through the file?” He asked to change the subject, leaning over to grab it and began to toy with the corners of the paper as he looked down at it, glowering. Almost as if the beige front cover with the words ‘Medical Report: Peter Benjamin Parker, Oct 11th, 2018’ had personally offended him.  

“No, and I’m not sure I want to.” It wasn’t often Pepper would back down from something on the chance of it being upsetting, but Tony couldn’t fault her. He placed a hand on her knee for a few seconds before pulling back.

“I don’t want it to be like we’re invading his privacy.” He said, rubbing at his forehead to ward off a headache for the second time that night. “But we should probably know what injuries he has incase something goes wrong or he needs help. I wouldn’t be surprised if that stupid ‘social worker’ missed something important out.”

Pepper pulled the file from his grasp and placed it back onto the table, out of his reach. “It’s late, there’s no point reading it now. Let’s just put something on the tv, make sure he’s okay, and then go to bed.” She moved over a bit on the sofa and patted next to her. Tony stood up and sat down by her, and she automatically curled into his side. “It’s just for a few nights.”

Just a few night, just a few nights. But… was that necessarily a good thing?

~~~~~

They were surprised when not ten minutes later they heard the light patter of padded feet tiptoeing down the stairs. Pepper sat up a bit from where she’d been comfortably lying on Tony, and nudged the half asleep man back into consciousness.

Peter peaked around the doorway, hands fidgeting in front of him, before quickly scurrying across the room to the sofa. As soon as he sat down he pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around himself. And it took all Tony and Pepper had not to gape at the new marks the shortsleeved shirt allowed them to see on the boy’s left arm. Red nail marks were lining the boy’s limb from his shoulder to his elbow, someone had tried their hardest to scrape him up to the point of bleeding. They could clearly see a large handprint wrapped around his upper arm, from where someone had grabbed him and not let go. There were bruises from a fist and circular burn marks from a, my god, from a cigarette, all over his pale skin. Burned and cut and bruised. They dreaded to think what the other arm looked like under the sling for the broken shoulder blade these people had caused. Or even worse, what the rest of his body looked like. How had it been allowed to get this bad? How had no one noticed? Seven months, if they had heard correctly, living with these people and no one had had any suspicions? His entire body language screamed kicked puppy, that combined with the whole not talking thing, how had no one from the boy’s school noticed? Or had they just not cared?

Wordlessly, Pepper reached behind the boy, emitting a violent flinch, and pulled a soft blanket over his shoulders. Peter stared at her in surprise before giving her a grateful smile and curling up a bit under the soft material. Never fully relaxing, but coming as close to it as they’d probably ever see.

Good god kid what has the world done to you?

Chapter Text

High pitched wailing filled the bedroom, making Tony force his eyes open just two seconds (it felt like) after he closed them.

“I’ll get her.” He said in a groggy voice as Pepper shifted in the bed towards the sound.

“There’s milk in the fridge, don’t forget to heat it up.” She mumbled, already going back to sleep. Tony stood up from the bed and tucked the quilt back over her before turning off the baby monitor and walking to the door. He wasn’t really sure why they needed a baby monitor, since their daughter was already loud enough to get her point across without the added volume right by their heads, but he supposed it was a good idea incase someone broke into her room and began talking to her like the creepy psychopath off the horror film he and Rhodey had watched a few months back. And yes, he was aware that that was an entirely unreasonable thought, but lately his anxiety had been full of them.

“I won’t.” He’d given her cold milk once three days ago and it had given the poor baby tummy ache, so now Pepper seemed to feel the need to remind him every single time he fed her, even if he had already learned his lesson- unfortunately at the expense of their daughter.

He went in to the nursery, and automatically started cooing as the infant’s cries quietened at the sound of his steps. He picked her up from the crib and her baby-blue eyes blinked up at him curiously, not yet able to recognise faces and voices in her week old mind. He could only imagine her thoughts were along the lines of ‘what is this strange, blurry blob and is it going to give me what I want?’

“Hey gorgeous, couldn’t get enough of me, huh? Understandable.” The blanket that he had- successfully, might he add- swaddled around her not three hours ago had come loose, allowing her little arms to wave around randomly in the air in front of her. He caught her hand and settled it back down, not quite knowing what to do with himself when her hand clutched at his thumb. “Let’s get you something to eat, yeah? If it would so please you, your highness.”

Trying to keep at least a fraction of his mind on the stairs he was walking down- lest he end up falling down them- proved to be extremely difficult what with his new best friend (sorry Rhodey) making the funniest of sounds from the crook of his arm.

He slinked into the kitchen, putting the ready made bottle under the warm tap water for a while until it was a tepid temperature. Meanwhile, he kept bouncing and talking to the baby who currently had the tip of his ring finger in her mouth. When it was done, he walked back into the living room to give it to her, and it was only then he noticed the boy still sitting on the sofa, in the exact same spot they’d left him in two hours ago.

He was staring into a space, as though seeing something that wasn’t there, and Tony clicked on the lamp to give the room some light. “Why aren’t you in bed?”

Peter practically leaped out of his seat with a loud cry, as the voice startled him. He’d clearly been in another place, a much darker place where light just didn’t fit in, and he hadn’t realised Tony was there until then. Why -or more importantly, how- was he still awake?

For the first time since his arrival, Tony didn’t have the boy’s full attention. Instead of watching his every movement in search of any sign he was about to hurt him, the boy’s eyes had fallen to the baby he was holding. Blinking sluggishly at her as though not sure if he was hallucinating or not. Oh, right, had they forgotten to mention the youngest resident of their household?

“Life with a newborn, she drinks so much one would be inclined to believe she had a drinking problem.” He joked, hoping that playing it off casually was the right move. Moving it to her mouth, she began suckling at the bottle, making the strangest of sounds, almost like a little duck. Peter was watching them in awe, and Tony could see the admiration mixed in with a bit of envy in his eyes.

Had the boy perhaps never had a father? He remembered when he was younger that he use to watch fathers and sons, and be interested and envious of the healthy dynamic they had with each other, as he didn’t have a good relationship with his own. Could Peter perhaps be having that same longing feeling he use to have?

“Her names Morgan, she was born on the forth.” He said, ridiculously glad that for the first time the boy was showing an emotion that wasn’t fear. He was even leaning in closer to have a look. Watching them both as though he’d never seen the likes of them before. Maybe he saw him as less of a threat while he was holding the precious infant? “Would you like to hold her?”

That seemed to break whatever trance Peter had slipped into as he threw himself back against the sofa and curled up, shaking his head desperately as though the idea pained him. “Whoa, okay buddy, you don’t have to.” He wasn’t sure what had caused that reaction, but he hoped he hadn’t just sent the kid into a full on meltdown which was what it looked like. They slipped into silence again, aside from the sounds Morgan was making, and it wasn’t long until Peter returned to studying them.

 “I’ll be honest, you look like shit. You really should get some sleep.”

For a minute there he was worried the kid would take it the wrong way and get offended, he seemed too fragile to insult in any way, no matter how jokingly. But luckily the boy seemed to understand it as the saying it was, and rested his head on the top of his knees to blink up at him sleepily. He was still curled up but at least he wasn’t hiding his face anymore.

The smallest of half-smiles spread over his features, but it was soon gone as tears made their way into his eyes. Tony had literally no clue what was going on as he watched, all he knew was that the boy was now crying and he wanted to make it stop just like he’d been able to with Morgan. But it wasn’t as easy as it was with his daughter, as all she’d needed was a bottle, Peter needed comfort and safety which he couldn’t provide him as he was certain that if he moved even an inch in the boy’s direction he’d send him into a heart attack.

“Oh, Peter, what’s wrong?” Stupid question, he knew, but he wasn’t very good at the whole comforting thing, okay?  “I didn’t upset you, did I?”

Peter shook his head, bottom lip wobbling as he tried to suppress the sobs making their way up his throat. Okay… so what the hell happened?

Tony was hit with the sudden thought that maybe he was scared to actually go to sleep. The kid was already on high alert despite being drugged up and exhausted out of his mind, it would make sense he wouldn’t want to go to sleep and be in a state where he was most vulnerable. That thought was followed by an even darker one, as he recalled the child sexual abuse stories they’d had to listen to during their training to be foster parents. One that stuck out especially was of a girl saying her abuser would come in the night when everyone else was asleep. What if he thought Tony would come for him in the night? While he was lying on the bed and no one was awake to help him? What if that had happened to him before? What if the boy had woken up to one of his previous foster fathers on top of him? What if-

He couldn’t think about it any longer, as he realised he’d begun to breathe heavily in his panic and Peter was now watching him in worry. Peter, the one who actually had to go through all of that, was looking at him as though concerned for his well being. He halted his breathing and tried to put on the face of calm that Pepper always managed to pull off so well, and gave the boy what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

“I was just thinking, that maybe you’d be more comfortable in a room with a lock? Teenage boy after all.” He played it off as though there weren’t another million reasons the kid would want to have a lock on his door. “I could get you one tomorrow, or-” one look at the time said differently, “later today. But for now maybe we could set you up in the bathroom? I have a sleeping bag somewhere, I think.”

Less than glamorous, and less than what Peter deserved, but the boy seemed to jump at the idea like a lion would it’s pray. He opened his mouth to say what looked like ‘yes’ but soon after slammed it shut and nodded desperately instead.

They headed to the stairs and about half way up Tony turned to see that the boy was still at the bottom, watching him fearfully. “You coming?”

Peter nodded hesitantly, taking one step up then stopping again. Deciding to just leave him to it, Tony carried on to the nursery to put Morgan down, and heard the boy only start to come up the rest of the stairs when he was out of sight. Once Morgan was settled and her eyes already drooping closed, he went into the closet and grabbed the sleeping bag, which he knew was there as on the first day of moving in they had to set up Morgan’s crib and then couldn’t be bothered to make their own bed so had ended up sleeping in them. Going back to the guest room, Peter was stood outside the doorway looking more than a little lost, and picking at the skin on his fingers. Walking towards him, the boy tensed straight up, standing like a soldier would in front of their commanding officer.

“Do you wanna grab the pillows for me?”

Peter nodded and immediately went to do as told, body shaking uncontrollably in fear as he saw that the man was now stood in the doorway, blocking his escape route should he need one. For a horrifying moment, Peter was certain Tony would suddenly charge at him, grab his arms and push him back. Why had he chosen to stand by the wall? He’d quite literally backed himself into a corner. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Words could not describe the relief he felt when the man instead went into the opposite bathroom to set it up. Peter stood there for a moment just watching him, clutching the pillow to his chest like a lifeline. When Tony looked up at him expectantly, he shuffled forwards, stopping in the corridor as he absolutely could not get himself to go into a room that small with him.

Tony smiled sadly at the boy, it was hard not to see the terror on his face. He stood up from the floor, knees clicking a bit, and he rolled his eyes at the personal betrayal from his body. He wasn’t that old yet. Exiting the bathroom, Peter took a step away from him until his back hit the bedroom doorframe, holding the pillow against himself like a shield.

“I’ll leave you to it, then. Try to get some sleep.” He said in a soft tone of voice, leaving as he knew by this point that Peter wouldn’t move until he was further away. When he turned the corner of the corridor, Tony stood still and leaned against the wall, listening for any sort of sound indicating that the boy had moved. It remained drop dead silent for a few seconds, until eventually he heard quiet shuffling followed by the small click of the bathroom door and the sliding of the lock. Only then did he allow himself to join his wife in bed.

~~~~~

“Tony? Tony!”

He was being shaken awake, and he groaned at the brightness of the room as he slitted his eyes open. Six AM, he’d come back to bed not two hours ago.

“Tony!”

He looked up to see Pepper leaning over him, worry clouding her face that made Tony’s heart jump. He sat up, rubbing at his eyes as his mind went straight to their daughter. “What’s wrong? Is Morgan okay?”

“What? Yes, she’s fine. I can’t find Peter.”

Tony’s face screwed up in confusion as he searched his head for where he knew that name. “Peter?”

“Yes, Peter. The foster kid you agreed to take in last night.”

“Oh, shit, yeah. Fun night.” He said, lying back down now that he knew there was nothing to worry about as the memories came flooding back.

“Well? Tony, I can’t find him!” Seeing the rapidly building panic, he decided to put her out of her misery and tell her about the events that took place at four in the morning.

“He’s in the bathroom.”

Pepper let out a breath in relief, sitting down on the bed. “Why?”

“When I went to get Morgan her bottle, I found him still awake in the living room. Turns out he was scared to sleep so I set him up a bed in the bathroom so he could lock the door.”

Pepper shook her head in disbelief, smiling at him lovingly. She moved to kiss him which he happily deepened, hand moving to her hair before trailing down her body. She pulled away shooting him a half amused look when his hand squeezed her behind, saying, “yeah, not happening.”

She stood up and retied her hair into a messy bun. “I’m going to make a start on breakfast, can you get Morgan changed? Let’s leave Peter to sleep for a bit longer, he needs it.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

~~~~~

It would seem though that the boy had a different plan, as not half an hour later he was peaking around the doorway. His face was red and wet, he’d obviously been crying and had tried to clean himself up. His hair was slightly tidier than it had been last night- this morning?- but it was still knotty and out of place. The kid had probably tried to sort it out a bit with his fingers, as he didn’t have a brush. It was obvious he’d gotten next to no sleep, and he looked dead on his feet. Tony had half a mind to tell him to get the hell back to bed but he was in no place to tell the kid what to do.

“Good morning, sweetheart.”

Tony could see the disapproval in Pepper’s eyes, mixed in with the desire to just wrap the boy up in blankets and spoon feed him, but someone who didn’t know her as well wouldn’t be able to see all that past the sweet smile she was wearing.

“I’m making some eggs and bacon, would you like some?” It wasn’t really a question, no matter what Peter said Pepper would  be getting some food into that boy.

Peter blushed deeply and trembled, the same inner debate going through his head that he had about the sugar last night. It would be rude to say no, wouldn’t it? What if she thought he was judging her cooking? It turned out that he didn’t even need to reply, his deprived stomach did that for him as it let off a loud, angry growl. Almost as if it was saying ‘Don’t you dare do this to me. Don’t you dare say no. We need this.’

Peter flushed even deeper, if that were at all possible, and chewed his lip shyly at the laugh of the two adults. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She said, and not two minutes later had a plate placed on the island, piled high with food, and told him to sit. He gingerly did as told, accepting the fork she practically forced into his hand, and just stared at the food with his mouth hung open.

Was this really all… for him? After being in the system for the last three years, he’d became accustomed to the small portions, the microwave meals, the scraps, and the days of starvation he’d gotten. But now, not only was he being given so much, without having to do anything to earn it, she’d even gone to the effort to cook for him. No one had cooked for him since his Aunt… and that was why he simply couldn’t believe that she was doing this with no other ulterior motive. They were going to make him earn this meal at one point or another, he was sure of it, so even though his body desperately begged him to, he just couldn’t get himself to touch the food.

Tony was talking to the baby in the basket next to him, but when he sat back up and saw the boy was sat frozen in his seat, his face fell in worry. “Aren’t you going to eat that?”

Pepper turned around from the oven and suddenly wore a matching expression to Tony, arms crossing in front of her. Peter shrunk in on himself under their gazes, and flinched when Pepper placed her hands down on the counter in front of him and leaned in close. “Eat.” She demanded, “I promise it’s what we want, you need to get some meat on those bones, we won’t be mad.”

Peter blinked up at her, wide eyed and through thick eye lashes, and Pepper almost felt her resolve leave right then and there if this hadn’t been for the boy’s own good.

She watched as Peter shakily lifted the fork with a bit of egg on it up to his mouth and timidly swallowed. To Peter, that small mouth full tasted like literal heaven, and he quickly found himself moving to have more as he realised there was no punishment and him eating actually made both of them happy for whatever reason. The voice of one of his old foster mothers calling him ‘fat’ and a ‘pig’ and ‘undeserving’ was drowned out by his pure hunger and built in instinct to get in as much as possible before it was taken away.

He only got down three more mouthfuls before he was abruptly stopped by a loud knock on the door. He was caught so off guard, and was so sure that something really bad was about to happen to him, that he slipped off of his stool to the floor, dived under the kitchen island to curl into the fetal position, and threw his good arm up to protect his head.

“Peter!” Two matching yells of surprise came, Tony sliding to the floor to check on him, and Pepper leaning over to look. Another loud knock on the door had her standing back up groaning and going to open it before there could be another loud knock to startle the boy, (and to give whoever was knocking at this time a peace of her mind).

She didn’t get to do that however, when a very impatient social worker barged past her, took one look at the shaking child taking cover on the floor, and exclaimed, “You’re not dressed yet?!”

“You haven’t called to tell us you’re coming yet?!” Tony replied in the exact same shrill tone, standing up and offering a hand to the boy to help him up. Peter looked at the offered hand in confusion, before shyly reaching to take it. Tony pulled him to his feet and the amount of gratitude on the boy’s face for such a small gesture was heartbreaking.

“He has a doctors appointment. Peter knows this!”

Yeah, ‘cause Peter was in a well enough state last night to remember an appointment and to tell them about it. Tony was pretty sure the kid had other stuff to think about.

Chase looked at the boy in accusation, and they could all hear the soft whimper that came from the boy as he hugged himself. And god, Tony just wanted to tell Chase to go fuck himself but he knew he couldn’t, if he pissed the man off then he could just take the boy away from them right here and now.

“Well then maybe you should have told us yourself.” Pepper snapped, not at all happy at the way he’d just barged straight in and yelled at Peter like that.

“It isn’t your right to know. Now, Peter go get dressed.” He commanded, and the boy looked around the room in a panic and at a complete loss. The kid didn’t have any clothes, so he didn’t know what Chase expected him to do.

“I put some stuff in your room to wear,” Tony said, and Peter looked so incredibly grateful and relieved that he didn’t need words to get his thoughts across. When Chase cleared his throat impatiently, the kid ran off up the stairs to do what he’d been told, leaving the three adults alone in the room.

The silence was deafening, and Morgan apparently did not like that as she soon started bawling her eyes out. Pepper picked her up and bounced her, and Tony nearly growled at the distaste clouding the other man’s face. He could understand not liking babies, but he didn’t get how someone could dislike his baby. She was too perfect. Obviously, since she came from him. Plus, why would the man be working as a social worker if he didn’t like kids?

Peter came running down the stairs, having gotten dressed into the baggy MIT hoodie and dark jeans (that looked more like jogging bottoms on him) in record time. He was holding the pair of Pepper’s trainers he’d put out for him, and was out of breath from the rush he’d just gone through.

“Hurry up! Get your shoes on.”

Peter stumbled to do that, nearly falling over without anything to balance on. He went to move to the door but was stopped by Tony’s hand on his shoulder. As he felt the slim frame tense under him, he removed his hand and instead dug in his pocket, pulling out some money and held it out for the boy to take. “Take this, buy yourself something to eat.”

Forty dollars. Peter simply couldn’t accept, so in an out-of-character act of defiance, he shook his head and pushed the man’s hand away from him. It seemed though that Tony was adamant on it and picked up the boy’s hand and stuffed the money in it. “Take it. Please.”

As though trying to give both Tony and Pepper a heart seizure, he unexpectedly mumbled “th-thank y-you.” Before getting ushered out of the house by the social worker.

“Well shit.”

Chapter Text

Pepper had gone to take a shower a few minutes ago, leaving him and Morgan sprawled across the couch. Morgan was quickly on her way back to sleep now that she had had her stomach filled and was settled against her father’s warm chest- the place Pepper claimed must be the infant’s favourite place to be. So that left Tony scrolling through his phone, answering a few texts and emails that he’d missed thanks to both him and Pepper taking time away from the world outside of their new little family. They had sent a photo of Morgan onto a group chat with the few people they’d wanted to share it with a day after she was born, and after left it at that. So needless to say, his phone was full of messages from people congratulating them, and saying how they couldn’t wait to meet her, and asking how it was going and what not. He only set out to reply to a few people though, Rhodey, Happy and Bruce (he was sure Bruce would pass along any messages to the rest of the team anyway).

Just as he was about to put the phone down and go back to watching the tiny bundle leant against him, the screen lit up with a video call from Rhodey. He sat up a bit straighter, and with a grin answered the call.

Rhodey’s face filled the screen, and he was wearing a matching grin at seeing his best friend for the first time since he’d become a father. “Well?” He finally said, waiting for Tony to say something, anything, but he just kept grinning, keeping Rhodes on edge.

“Yeah.” Tony eventually said, and just as Rhodey opened his mouth to say something again he flipped the camera onto the now awake baby.

“Oh my go- hi gorgeous! Hi! It’s your Uncle Rhodey here! Can you hear me?”

Tony snorted at the high pitched tone the man slipped into, but beamed when his daughter started opening and closing her mouth in response to the sound.

“Is that a smile I see? Are you smiling for your Uncle Rhodes?” He continued over the phone, and while it was more than likely just gas it certainly looked like a smile. After another minute of Rhodey cooing over the phone, the baby soon grew bored and closed her eyes again, so Tony flipped the camera back around.

“She’s beautiful, I honestly can’t believe that you’re a dad now. How’s it going so far?”

Tony began to tell him every little detail about the first few days, everything about how he was feeling came spilling out now that he was talking to the person who’d known him longer than anyone else in the world. He did, however, leave out one important detail. Peter. He wasn’t sure why, but the idea of talking about the teen worried him. As though telling someone outside of the house about Peter would somehow make it all the more real. He was only staying maybe one more night, right? So why would he get attached and tell people if it wasn’t going to be a long term thing?  He was planning on telling people after the kid had gone, sort of like a ‘crazy thing that happened to me last week’ story. He didn’t know why he felt incredibly guilty all of a sudden.

“So, new house, new baby, I think this might break the record for the tiredest I’ve ever seen you. Have you gotten any sleep?”

“Yeah, a bit last night. She’s actually pretty good over the night, but the midwife said they go through phases of sleeping a lot and not sleeping at all, so… that’s something to look forward to.”

“Well you better hope she doesn’t get any of your bad habits, ‘cause-”

Tony heard a car pull up outside, “look I’ve gotta go, Pepper needs me. I’ll speak to you soon.”

“Oh, okay… Bye-”

Rhodey barely got to finish that sentence as he hung up just as the front door opened. Peter came stumbling in, tears streaming down his face, and froze to stare at Tony for just one second before bolting upstairs.

“What the hell happened?” Tony asked Chase, standing up to glare at the man accusingly. It was at that moment, Pepper walked in, having been bumped into by Peter on the stairs.

“He completely flipped out at the doctor when he tried to remove his cast, I had to pin him down.” He groaned in annoyance, as though this hindered him in some sort of way. Arms crossed and glaring after the boy, and Tony could just tell he’d probably given Peter an earful on the drive back.

“Pin him down? He was probably fucking terrified! Are you fucking serious!?”

“Tony, I-” Pepper started, placing a hand on his shoulder but he just waved her off.

“No! I swear to fucking god I am done with this guy. He’s fourteen years old, and has just been through who fucking knows what kind of shit, and you think it’s a clever idea to pin him down so some stranger can mess around with his injuries?!”

“He tried to hit the doctor, who was only trying to help him. He was being fucking ridiculous!”

Tony was about ready to explode, putting Morgan down and clicking onto the button on his watch to call the suit to him. Just as it began to arm him, Pepper grabbed Chase by the arm and shoved him out of the door, saying, “if you tell anyone about this, next time I won’t stop him.” And then slammed the door behind him.

“Pepper, what the hell?” He yelled through the intercom on the suit, and she rolled her eyes at him, standing in front of the door to block his path so he couldn’t go storming after the man again. “Did you not hear the way he was talking about him?”

“Yes. But there are more important things to worry about right now. You were just going to get Peter taken away from us.”

At the boy’s name, he calmed down just enough to notice how unnaturally red his wife’s eyes were. She’d been crying?

“Pep?”

Pepper picked Morgan up from the chair Tony had placed her on and gave the girl a small, wavering smile.

“Pep, what’s wrong?”

Still not answering him she wrapped Morgan back into her blanket and but her in the Moses basket, surprised she hadn’t started crying during all of that yelling. Then, pushing her hair off of her shoulder, she turned to face her husband. “I read through his file.” She admitted, sitting down on the sofa.

“Oh…” he said dumbly, all of the anger leaving him as he disbanded the suit and sat on the arm of the seat next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “What did it say?”

Closing her eyes, she shook her head slowly before standing back up. “We’ll talk later, we need to go make sure Peter’s alright first.” She said, already half way to the door leaving Tony with no choice but to follow.

He wasn’t in the guest room, and Tony was unsurprised to find the bathroom door firmly locked, and was again unsurprised but utterly heartbroken to hear sobs coming from the room.

“Peter?” Pepper called softly, knocking gently on the door, and immediately the cries stopped as the boy went silent in fear to listen to them. “Peter, we know you’re in there, we just want to know you’re okay.” If he’d been trying to fight off people it could have worsened his injuries, and they didn’t know if the doctor had gotten to do what needed to be done. “We know what happened, and we understand that it must have been really scary for you, we aren’t mad. We’re on your side.” They didn’t get an answer, but could make out a quiet whimper followed by a few heavy, panicked breaths. “I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but we really care about you. Can you please just let us know you’re okay? Please?”

Nothing. At the answered silence Pepper’s face began to fall again, and just as she was about to give in a tiny knock on the door sent a relieved smile flooding across her face. “You’re okay? You’re not hurt?” A few seconds of silence as the boy debated his answer then another soft knock.

“Oh thank god.” Tony gasped out, banging his head against the wall in exhaustion.

“Can you come out?”

They stood waiting, but upon receiving no answer at all Pepper leaned slightly against the door with a tired smile. “Alright sweetheart, that’s okay. You take all the time you need.  We’re going to put Morgan in her room and then sit down for a bit. You can come out when you’re ready. Okay?” He probably needed a break from people.

Another knock, and so they made their way back downstairs to collect their daughter and take her to her nursery before heading down to the kitchen out of the boy’s hearing range. Tony and Pepper needed to talk.

~~~~~

Placing the baby monitor on the counter, Tony ran a hand through his hair before turning around and saying. “It’s bad isn’t it?” He already knew the answer, he’d seen some of the wounds on the boy in person, so he didn’t know why he was asking.

Pepper nodded solemnly, giving him the brown folder to read for himself as she doubted she could get through it all without breaking down. Picking it up, he fiddled with the corners of the pages, before finally forcing himself to read it.

The list of injuries was long. Longer than he’d anticipated, and that wasn’t even counting Peter’s medical history from before last night.

———————————————————————————

Medical report for:

Peter Benjamin Parker, 11^th Oct 2018

Reason of admission:

Neighbour, Mr S. Lee, reported screaming, police found patient unconscious on floor with extensive injuries.

Other injuries:

Minor bruising around left eye

Severe bruising on upper shins, upper arms, wrists, chest, neck, stomach, shoulders and back

Cuts on arms and scratches on hands.

Bite marks on upper chest and lower abdomen.

Mild concussion due to mild head trauma on the left side

Broken right scapula

Lacerations on back

Extensive tearing in anal canal. 

Scars/ moles/ physical identification:

Scars on upper and lower back and shoulders from repeated striking (suspected belt and/or cane)

Burn scar on bicep from long, thin object 

Circular burn marks on shoulders and arms (suspected cigarette)

Mole on left shoulder blade

Scar from mouth on inner right thigh and lower stomach (no DNA found in tissue)

Scars on arms (suspected sharp object)

Sexual Assault forensic exam:

Positive, three DNAs found: Mr M. Carson, Unknown and Unknown.

Urine drug test: 

Positive: rohypnol, modafinil, tobacco.

Physical appearance: 

Dark brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin.

Ethnicity: 

White American.

Sex:

Male

Height:

5'3

Weight:

102 lbs

Cause of fainting: 

Exhaustion

Drop in blood pressure due to panic attack

Malnourishment

Shock

Cause of other injuries:

Suspected child abuse

Suspected self harm

Suspected sexual assault

Suspected drug abuse

Current guardian/s:

Micheal Carson

Sarah Carson.

Parents:

Mary Parker (deceased)

Richard Parker (deceased)

Date of birth:

10th Aug, 2004

Age:

14

Admission time:

19:43

Nurses and doctors that treated the patient:

Melissa McCall (nurse)

Jennifer Tuppet (nurse)

Dr David Geyer (paediatrician)

Dr Samantha Warren (psychiatrist).

Diagnosis: 

Generalised anxiety disorder

Panic disorder

Post traumatic stress disorder

Possible other mental disorders

Malnutrition (anaemia)

Prescription for Serotonin, Ibuprofen and Iron attached.

———————————————————————————

Tony placed a hand over his mouth in shock as he read through it all, his vision getting blurrier from tears the further he read down. His brain wasn’t even sure what to process first. What to think of first. Lacerations on his back from repeated striking, drugged with roofies, three DNA matches from the people who raped him. Not one, but three.

The file ended up slipping from his fingers and he fell to his knees along with it. His breathing was suddenly heavy and Pepper ran a hand through his hair to try bring him back to earth. Dazed, he blinked around at the bright kitchen, not quite knowing what to do with himself. He caught eyes with Pepper, she was crying too but forced a smile at him, ever the strong one.

Tony wasn’t the type to give himself time to just feel, or cry, and he was absolutely terrible at seeing Pepper cry. He couldn’t bare to see her upset, and he knew that made him weak. But even so, abruptly, he stood back up to his feet, rolling his shoulders back to try gather some semblance of put-togetherness, before saying, “we forgot to pick up his tablets, I’m going to go get them.” And leaving. And Pepper just let him go.

Chapter Text

Two hours later, Tony still hadn’t come back, Pepper was annoyed, sure, but she knew that he needed this. She just hoped he wasn’t doing anything reckless. A quick text later told her that he had in fact gone shopping to get Peter a few things, and she couldn’t really be angry at him for that so she placed her phone back down and sighed. Tony had taken Morgan with him, and the complete silence was entirely off-putting. She checked the time and when she saw it nearing one she realised that now was probably a good time to make Peter some lunch. A few mouthfuls of food at seven in the morning was far too little for a growing boy, and she wasn’t sure if he’d listened to Tony’s demand to buy food earlier.

He needed something that would get some meat on his bones, so she decided a BLT and some fries would be good, with some salad on the side because he still had to have something healthy.

When done she grabbed the plate and made her way up the stairs, she couldn’t hear anything in there, and was hesitant to knock incase he was sleeping, so eventually decided on just calling his name softly. “Peter?”

She heard shuffling, the boy had been curled up and staring into a space a moment ago, so the noise startled him.

“Peter, I’ve got some food here for you.” She continued now that she’d heard he was awake. “Please can you open the door?”

Peter moved over a bit and grabbed the door handle, after all it would be rude to ignore her, but he froze just after he clicked open the lock and pushed the handle down, what if it was a trap? Would they really be giving him food again? After the way he’d acted today? Standing up, taking a deep breath and preparing himself for whatever would be on the other side (it didn’t work) he cracked open the door. Just enough to peak around, checking for danger, before pulling it open a bit farther when he just saw Pepper stood there smiling with a plate in hand.

Immediately, he shoved the handful of money towards her, and she blinked in surprise. Pepper wanted to tell him to keep it, they didn’t need it after all, but knew the boy probably wouldn’t like that very much. “Thank you,” she said, accepting it into her hand and smiling when she saw that he had in fact bought something with it. Only one of the notes had been broken into, leaving a ten dollar note and eight in change. He’d spent two dollars on a protein bar at a vending machine, not wanting to disobey them but also not wanting to push his luck. But still, it was something.

He gasped in a shuddery breath when he saw her take note of the missing money, eyes wide in alarm, but was relieved when she didn’t seem to mind, actually seemed happy, and put it into her pocket. Huh, how weird.  “I made you this, hopefully this time Chase won’t burst in and steal you away.” She joked, and Peter found himself smiling shyly, looking down at his feet and nervously tucking a wayward strand of hair behind his ear. As she continued to hold the plate out to him, he awkwardly accepted it, almost drooling at the sight of the food.

“Do you want to take it downstairs? I’m sure eating in a bathroom wouldn’t be very nice.” She asked politely, and from lunch time experiences at his old school, he was obliged to agree with her statement out of experience.

He trailed after her down the stairs, his arm was still in a sling and he’d just been given orders to rest it as much as possible but he could take it off over night. His shoulder blade had been set so it was mainly just to stop him from worsening it or causing himself any pain. As soon as he got downstairs he scanned the room, breath bated as he looked around for the much more intimidating adult, Tony. He took a few more steps into the large room, and Pepper seemed to notice what he was doing.

She smiled sadly at him, saying, “He’s taken Morgan for a drive, don’t worry, it’s just me and you.”

He stared at her in surprise, brows furrowed in confusion, one half of his brain was surprised at how well she apparently read his thoughts and the other at how okay she seemed to be with the fact that he was scared of her husband. They should hate him, should absolutely hate him for being so stupid and ungrateful. For thinking such horrible things about them. Wow, you're pretty messed up aren't you? You just expect pain. Weird if you ask me. I guess you deserve it right now though. Maybe you actually liked all that happened in the last house. But she didn’t seem to hate him, not at all. She was feeding him and even smiling at him. Clearly she’s just a very good actor, either that or it’s just pity.

She’d sat down at the kitchen island now, and he cautiously took a step forward, pausing to examine his surroundings again, before taking another small step forward, hesitant to got too far away from the wall. Pepper watched his almost animal like movements. Almost like a timid mouse, testing the waters before coming all of the way out into the open, incase a cat should pounce on him from some unseen corner of the room. Apparently satisfied that nothing bad was about to happen, he finally walked over to the island, hesitantly sitting down on one of the corner stalls.

Pepper had a sandwich of her own, and began eating while clicking at something on the laptop in front of her (which, unbeknownst to him, she was on just to take the attention off of him while he ate, an attempt to make him feel safer). His eyes darted to her face, wondering if he was allowed to eat yet. He waited, not knowing what to do as she hadn’t told him whether he could start or not.

Five minutes later she was finishing the last of her meal and Peter hadn't even started his yet. His stomach was burning painfully, screaming at him to eat. He knew he couldn't though, the burning in his stomach was nothing to the punch he could expect from Tony, or the slap he would get from Pepper if he acted out of line.

Logically, he knew the food was for him, of course it was, but his fears were the most illogical part of him. If there was even a chance eating would get him punished, he wouldn't take that chance.

Realising she hadn’t offered him a drink, she looked up at him and then stopped, taking in his nervous expression and still full plate.

"Peter, aren't you hungry?"

He stared at her wide eyed, mouth opening a little as though to say something before snapping it shut soon after.

"Sweetheart, you should eat if you're hungry. I made that for you."

He gulped and nodded, hesitantly picking up a fry. He glanced at Pepper, who was watching him. She nodded encouragingly and he began to eat.

Immediately his instincts took over, much like it had earlier, and he started to eat quicker, the survival instinct in him yelling at him to get down as much as he could. He had to exert all of his will power to slow down and chew carefully and controlled. Most of the fries gone, his eyes moved to the BLT still sitting there untouched.

Then, the memories crashed over him like freezing ice water.

Bacon had been the Carson’s favorite.That wasn't exactly a unique trait, everyone seemed to love the food, but he could still remember how the smell every Saturday morning made his empty stomach feel even more hollow.

One morning, Mr Carson had left the room to get changed as the food on the pan cooked.

Peter, sensing an opportunity to relieve himself from the unbearable hunger pangs that racked his body, had carefully stepped his way over all the floor boards that creaked (he had memorized the noisy ones so he could move around quietly).

Making his way into the kitchen he had rifled through the bottom draw under the sink for a minute before finding the granola bars stashed there. Grabbing two, one for now to get rid of the pain and the other to save for the next time it got this bad; it was the summer holidays so he wasn’t getting food from school anymore. He had quickly crept back towards the kitchen door and had gotten as far as the fridge when Carson came in again, fully dressed.

He remembered the smirk on his foster father's face when he had seen the granola bars clutched tight in his bony hand. He’d taken an ominous step toward him, breath smelling strongly of beer, even though it couldn't have have been past 9:00 am.

He remembered how much taller the man had been than him, how much stronger. The way his hands had curled around his neck and slammed him into the wall had the casual air another man might apply to picking up a jacket or opening a cupboard.

He’d snarled angrily at him, "so you think you can steal from us, huh? You think you can sneak into our kitchen like the dirty little rat you are and steal from us?"

Peter had shaken his head frantically and dropped the granola bars, letting them hit the floor with a light thump. Carson had laughed at the then thirteen year old struggling in front of him, his legs kicking helplessly.

The first punch in the gut came like a sledge hammer, the following ones battering into him like stones in an avalanche. He remembered sliding onto the floor and curling up against himself, trying to brace himself for whatever pain Carson decided to inflict on him next. A strong kick in the ribs had forced him out of his ball, leaving him too stunned to curl back in on himself.

Carson had just laughed as he lay there, taking the kicks like a rag doll, too weary to even try to defend himself. He remembered how he thought it was all over when the kicks stopped. How he had gasped in relief and let the tears in his eyes finally well up and flow.

Then Carson had crouched down next to him, holding something large and black in his left hand. He had grabbed Peter’s arm roughly and held him in place as he pushed the burning frying pan to the boy's bicep.

Peter remembered how he had been too shocked to react straight away, how it had taken the sizzle and steam to rise from his arm before he had started to scream.

The smell of bacon and human flesh burning had melded together and it struck Peter that they weren't that different after all, was there a difference between human and animal flesh anyway? He didn't think so.

Unwillingly, he whimpered, eyes haunted as he stared at the food, a horrible lump forming in his throat. His stomach was churning sickeningly, both from the memory and his stomach not being used to all this food going into it.

“Sweetie? Peter, what’s wrong?”

He gasped, jolting viciously and blinking furiously when he came back to earth and saw Pepper kneeling on the floor next to him, his hands in hers. When had she gotten there? She looked incredibly worried and another sob made its way from his throat in guilt that he’d upset her. Hadn’t he hurt them enough? Maybe everyone would be better off if he just died. Wow, he hadn’t thought that way since-

nope, not going to go there.

Seeing the boy drift off into his thoughts again, Pepper grew even more concerned, she began stroking small circles onto his hand with her thumb, and he again blinked in confusion as he was brought back to reality, eyelashes fluttering. He looked distressed, his expression pained. Clearly whatever was going on in his head had something to do with those monsters that had hurt him, and she couldn’t bare to see him suffer with his memories any longer.

“Hey,” she whispered, shuffling a bit closer to him, “hey, look at me. You’re not there anymore. They can’t hurt you here, I won’t let them. You won’t ever have to go back there again, okay? I know it doesn’t feel like it at the moment but it’s going to be alright.”

Peter closed his eyes as the tears started falling, lip wobbling and breath shuddery as he tried in vain not to cry in front of her. She couldn’t know how weak he was. How broken. No one wants a broken, dirty, kid in their home.

She wiped some of the salty tears from his cheek, and he gasped in surprise, flinching back and knocking into the edge of the marble island, making the bruises there throb. He grimaced, and slid off the seat taking a few steps away from her, his hands pulling from her grasp roughly as though her touch burned him.

“Oh, I’m sorry sweetie. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m not going to hurt you, I swear. Neither of us will.”

Bull shit. It almost always went like this. They’d be all nice to him at first to get the social workers of their back and then around the one or two week mark the first hit would come. Normally he’d have either said something stupid or stolen from them (usually food, he’d learned to prepare for starvation in advance) or just happened to be in the house when they got pissed. And then, of course, there were the places where they didn’t even bother to put up a front of kindness, but Peter had learned how to be less annoying now so as to not anger them unnecessarily early. In a way, he almost preferred the people whose poor intentions were clear right off the bat, it made the inevitable downfall hurt a whole lot less and didn’t leave him waiting around in anticipation for the facade to drop.

But he wasn’t staying with them for long, so hopefully they wouldn’t get to the point where they hated him enough to feel inclined to put him into place. Her words rang through his head ‘it’s going to be alright’. How will it be alright if he was just destined to go to another bad place after this one? And another, and another until eventually he either gave up with living through all that pain or he reached eighteen and finally wouldn’t be dependent on other people, who didn’t want him, to give him food and a roof over his head.

Slam.

He shrieked when the front door opened and Tony came back through, bags of shopping in one hand and the baby carrier in the other.

Tony paused, before deciding not to question the emotional wreck the boy was in and saying, “What? I’m not that bad looking, am I?” With a grin, before making his way to place down the bags. Just like last night, acting as though nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary seemed to work, as the boy just stared at the door he’d walked through in horror and shock for another moment or two, breathing heavily, before swallowing and turning around to see what he was doing, no longer looking as though the world was ending but still very tense and scared.

Pepper was still eyeing Peter worriedly from the archway, but she too had had her attention stolen by Tony.  

“I got you some things.” He said, pulling out some stuff from one of the bags and placing it next to him on the sofa. “Since Chase is entirely incapable and hasn’t gotten any of your stuff yet, I figured you needed some clothes and stuff. These should fit, sorry if you don’t like them, I’ll have to take you shopping some other time.”

Peter, in a daze, had stumbled a bit closer to have a look, not truly believing his eyes, and Tony passed him the pile of brand new folded clothes, a hair brush, and some other toiletries as though it were nothing, when it meant everything to the underprivileged teen. He was frozen, body unable to function as his mind tried to come to grips with the gifts weighing down on his numb good arm. Blinking, he realised that Tony was still talking and pulling out more items, but he hadn’t heard a word of what had been said. Already, the pile he was holding had grown larger and Peter’s brows screwed up in confusion at the sudden time that seemed to have passed.

“-know it’s probably that camera you wanted specifically, but I got you a new one anyway. I promise we’ll still get yours back though.” He passed him a new, top of the market digital camera and a phone which, if Peter had been listening properly like a normal human would, he would have heard Tony say was incase he found himself in another bad situation and needed to call someone for help. And now Peter’s mouth dropped open. It even had a SIM card with unlimited texts, calls and data! Both were Starktech, and only then did it really hit him that he was with Tony Stark.

“That’s great, hun, but did you actually get what you went out for?” Pepper asked, one eye brow raised in amusement, as she picked up the bags left by the coffee table to find them full of the food shopping she’d asked for.

“Oh, yeah, right.” Grabbing a small paper bag, he passed Peter his prescription tablets, before sniffing casually and leaning back into the sofa.

Pepper laughed softly, taking a step towards Peter and putting a steadying hand on the tall pile of things the boy was balancing on his arm. “I think you broke him.” She muttered jokingly to Tony, and it was then Peter realised his mouth was still hanging open and now uncomfortably dry. She lifted the stuff off of him and he immediately thought I knew it was too good to be true, but was again utterly breath-taken when she put it into a bag and gave it back to him saying, “this should be easier.”

His head screamed at him to say something, to do something, he opened his mouth again, and the weird, croaky, gaspy sound that came out instead of the words ‘thank you’ or ‘is this a trick’ made him want to smack himself.

Pepper was smiling and Tony was grinning at him, while Peter just stood there like an ungrateful idiot, waiting for it to all fall apart.

“Why don’t you take all this upstairs, give it a look through up there.” Pepper suggested, deciding to help the kid out before he literally passed out. And with that appealing thought in mind, he finally managed to get his body to cooperate, stumbling a few steps forward until-

“Wait!”

Oh god. Here we go.

Peter stood stock still, waiting for the man to take it all back, to sneer at him, laugh at him for being so naïve as to believe this was actually all for him, and when Peter saw Tony stand up and walk towards him from his peripheral vision, he had to fight to keep his knees from bucking in. What good are you on the floor? Need to stay up and ready to run if need be. 

“I got a lock for your bedroom door, lemme just go put it on for you and then you can go up, maybe tonight you can actually sleep in a bed. I’ll be right back.” He said, scooting past the boy to the door so as to avoid getting too close to him. And really, all Peter could think was what the fuck.

Chapter Text

He could still remember, clearly, the first place he was put in after the death of his Aunt and Uncle. A group home, just for boys, in a bad part of Queens. There’d been about fourteen other boys there, too many to properly provide for. The woman in charge, Miss Hannigan- and no, the irony was not lost on Peter- didn’t hurt any of them per say, maybe a few slaps to some of the older kids, but usually she tended to use methods that wouldn’t leave a mark. And, as a scared eleven year old who’d just seen his last living relatives get murdered in front of him, Peter was prone to sleep terrors, and so had been subjected to a few of these creative punishments.

Made to stand up for hours all night after having woken everyone up with his screaming, and, a few times, when it was warm and dry enough outside for him to not be at risk of pneumonia, being made to sleep outside. He’d still had all of his stuff from home then, but most of it had been taken by the older boys in the first few weeks. And Hannigan had already had it out for him at that point so didn’t do anything about it and told him to stop being so selfish.

He’d stayed there for two months until he couldn’t bare his new life any longer, and tried to end it all by taking twelve small pills. Needless to say, it didn’t work, and after being dismissed from the intensive care unit Hannigan had refused to take him back in, as he would look bad on her CV, and Peter couldn’t really blame her, he was broken after all.

Then he’d been sent to a couple, they’d just completely ignored him before apparently getting bored and sending him back. Next was the Ransoms, a rich couple on the upper east side, and he’d basically just been a punching bag for the entire family to take their anger out on, and a personal servant, oh the woes of being rich. They’d kicked him out after he hit their seventeen year old son back, telling social services that he was ‘insolent’ and ‘violent’ and that they couldn’t have his bad influence around their son anymore.

Then after that it had been Mr Robberts, who’d bullied him relentlessly about his past, apparently taking joy in seeing him cry just to mock him for it after.

Miss Lathario, a woman who clearly had an issue with her own body image and felt the need to push her issues onto him too, came after. Calling him fat and making him starve along with her. Giving him a bunch of different protein pills and what not in leu of food.  He’d ended up being caught trying to steal food from a shop, and honestly he was relieved to have been caught as he then got sent to a place out of town and was also given a new social worker, Mrs Reid. She wasn’t as young and naïve as his first one had been, and so didn’t buy into the false façades of some of the worst homes. She was actually careful where she took him, as though she actually cared.

Those next few placements were some of the best he’d had, especially one person, a little old lady named Sandra who’d started fostering as she was in need of company. He’d loved it there, stayed for four months, and had thought that maybe this would be the placement that would take him into adulthood, until she’d gotten sick and was deemed unable to care for him. Peter didn’t know what happened to her after that.

The saying ‘all good things must come to an end’ came to mind, as soon after that he was taken back to New York and given another new case worker, Mr Chase. Who didn’t care where Peter went, so long as he was out of his hair and not on the streets. He got put with the Milers, an ex-military couple with a thing for corporal punishment. Usually they used a belt whenever he stepped the smallest bit out of line, hitting him again and again until he was almost unconscious from the pain and blood loss. After a particularly bad morning his back was still bleeding, reddening his shirt, a teacher had taken notice and called to have him removed from the place. The next few after that were just as bad, he even tried to run away a few times, until he eventually ended up at the Carson’s… during the first month it had gotten so bad, he’d completely lost everything, that he’d even called Chase at a pay phone to beg him to come get him. Something he’d never done before, despite it all. But he’d just told him not to be ridiculous and to stop wasting his time. Soon after that he lost his ability to speak too.

And now here he was. In the house of Tony fucking Stark, of all people. The man he’d idolised when he was a little kid. He doubted Tony remembered, but he could still remember when he was like, eight or nine, and his Uncle had taken him to an Expo, but a bunch of the Hammertech suits had gone haywire and started trying to kill everyone, and he remembered, very clearly, that Mr Stark had saved him in his Iron Man suit. At first he’d thought he had super powers, as Tony had purposely blasted the machine attacking him from behind him, before telling Peter ‘nice work’ and going, leading young naïve him into thinking that he’d done it. Of course he knew better now. He’d been such a big fanboy after that that he’d even done his fifth grade science project on him.

Tony had installed the lock on the bedroom door leaving Peter sat on the mattress alone in there, the large bag of things he’d been brought in front of him. Wow, the only time you're not an anxious mess is when you’re literally locked inside a room. You're going to love the psych ward. It's where you'll end up eventually. While glad he didn’t have to sleep in the sleeping bag anymore- his body already ached enough without the added act of sleeping on a hard floor- he was also frightfully aware of the fact that this now meant he’d have to venture outside of the safe space whenever he needed the bathroom.

He slumped over a bit on the bed, tired, his muscles hurt from being so tense all the time and he was relatively safe at the moment so there was no need to be completely on guard. He turned on his side, the bag his tablets were in caught his eye. He wasn't sure it was such a good idea for him to have pills handy, then again, he wasn't exactly about to go and talk about that with the Starks.

They'd think you were a freak. You are a freak. If there was anything stopping you from being kicked out, telling them that would be the last straw. You'd be back at the Carson’s within the day.

He screwed his eyes shut, refusing to look at the pills, praying to God (or whatever was up there), that he didn't do anything stupid.

It was only ten milligrams. But in a week it would be twenty, then thirty. If he went up to forty and there was enough meds in the box for three months, that was a whole lot of pills.

Pushing these thoughts out of his mind, he turned his attention to the other bags which he hadn't yet looked through. Eyes glancing up to the door as though to properly check that it was in-fact closed, he timidly reached for the bag and pulled it towards him. Sitting up again with a groan, he slowly began to pull stuff out to look through it properly.

The clothes Tony had brought were pretty simple, as he hadn’t known what Peter would like, a few T-shirts in plain colours, two pairs of jeans, and some jogging bottoms. Plus a blue hoodie, some trainers, and boxers and socks. To sleep in, there was also some flannel pajama bottoms and some baggy shirts. These, combined with the literal phone he’d gotten him, were far more than he deserved, and he found himself wondering if he’d actually be allowed to keep any of it after he left. He doubted it. Why on Earth would you spend this much money on a kid who’d only be with you for a few nights? Then again, it would be super weird to just take back the clothes they’d bought in his size, what would they do with them? They could always just return them he supposed. The geeky teenage boy in him was itching to take out the phone and try out the holographic features in it, to see if the lens really could produce quality image life-sized holograms from it, but he wouldn’t dare open it up and turn it on, voiding the warranty.

Who was he kidding? He was with Tony Stark, the person who literally designed these phones, he wouldn’t need a written warranty to return it to a shop as soon as Peter had left. Still, he wasn’t going to use it, he didn’t deserve to. After all, what made him anymore deserving than the thousands of people starving on the streets right now. He was disgusting, he didn’t deserve a privilege like a phone.

Looking down again at the rest of the stuff, his eyes fell on the wash kit he’d been given, or, more specifically, on the new, sharp razor that came with the wash kit. The glint of the shiny metal beamed in his eyes, calling to him, and before he even knew what he was doing he was holding it in his hand.

He didn’t deserve any of this, he needed to be hurt.

He twirled it around in his fingers for a moment, everything else around him seemingly cancelled out as he stared at the cool metal.

If no one else was going to, he’d have to take it upon himself to punish him.

He shifted on the bed, crossing his legs, now with a firm grip of the skinny handle of the razor.

At least he was in control of how much pain he received this way. He liked the sound of that... In control.

Mind made up, he pulled off the hoodie he was wearing, not wanting to get blood on Mr Stark’s clothing, and placed it neatly beside him. He pulled the arm with the injured shoulder out of the sling, grimacing in pain, but he needed to do this, and put the razor into that hand. He brought the sharp tip closer, and closer to his skin and just as he was about to make contact-

A knock on the door made him jump and drop the blade in surprise.

“Peter, I’ve got a drink here for you.”

It was Pepper, and not thinking he scrambled up to answer it, blinking up at her in a daze.

“I just realised I hadn’t offered you anything to drink all day, I’m sorry. Here.” She passed him the bottle of water, guilt and self-annoyance (which Peter wrongly saw as anger) clear on her face. He’d been starved and hopped up on drugs when he got here, and she’d given him one drink the night before and nothing after it, when she should have known very well he wouldn’t help himself to anything. She usually prided herself on being well put-together and organised, so she didn’t know what was going on here but she didn’t like it. “Oh, are you going to sleep?” She asked after noticing the absence of the sling on his arm.

He looked down at his arm as though he’d never seen it before, and then nodded in agreement.

“Oh good, that means you can take your pills then, they recommend having them before you go to bed as they make you drowsy. You need to take two of the ibuprofens and one of the others. Okay? You can swallow tablets alright can’t you?”

Oh if only she knew…

He nodded again, he could swallow pills more than well enough, and tried to stop himself from scratching off the skin on his arms while he stood there, leading to him fiddling awkwardly.

“Okay, well have a good sleep, you certainly need it, hopefully it’ll be easier to do on an actual mattress. You have everything you need?” It was almost as though she suspected something was off, the way she kept asking him questions and peering into the room behind him, in between studying his face. He nodded once again, trying to stop the involuntary nervous twitch of his leg.

“Okay…” she repeated, staring at him with her piercing gaze for a moment more before smiling, “sleep tight, be sure to get us if you need anything.”

He waved shudderingly, before grabbing at the door, ready to shut and lock it as soon as she stepped away. Once finally back in the safety of the locked room, he sighed in relief before shuffling back towards the bed, back towards the awaiting blade.

Just one cut-

~~~~~

They didn’t hear from him for the rest of the afternoon, and after a few hours they asked FRIDAY, who informed them that he was fast asleep. Their afternoon now pretty much free, Tony went down to the workshop, claiming that yes, while he was having a break from all that stuff that didn’t mean Dum-E and U still didn’t need him around once in a while. For what must have been the hundredth time over the years she just told him to power them down, but again he’d just stared at her like she’d told him to kill a puppy. So Pepper went upstairs to go on the laptop for a bit.

It was nearing six and Pepper had text Tony not long ago that she was giving Morgan a bath, leading to him immediately racing up the stairs to watch. It seemed Morgan already had her daddy wrapped around her little finger, and could get him to come running faster than anyone else could. She was going to be spoiled beyond belief, Pepper just knew it. Once upstairs he paused at the door, trying to look casual when he saw Pepper’s amused smirk. It didn’t take long though for him to stop caring about how clingy he appeared and step forward to hold Morgan’s head up and run the soapy water over her tummy.

Just like the last time they did this, she didn’t cry and instead moved her legs about in the water and watched both of her parents moving around her. She actually really liked baths. They got her dressed into a baby grow, and after asking FRIDAY if Peter was still asleep and getting a yes, they settled down on their bed with Morgan in between them.

Tony and Pepper had started out with just kissing, and then pretty soon they’d put Morgan into the cot they had by the bed, and were wrapped up in each other. Arms around each other’s bodies, trailing up and down, the kisses getting deeper and longer, and soon enough, the shirts came off.

~~~~~

It was well into the night when it started, and the shear suddenness of it honestly made Tony second guess if he was actually hearing what he was hearing. But one look at Pepper showed that she was hearing it too. Someone was screaming, and since Morgan was right next to them it didn’t take much to figure out who. Unanimously, they both jumped out of bed and raced down the hall to Peter’s room, the screams and crying even louder there.

“Stop it! Stop, it hurts! Please! Please, god, stop. Get it out!” He was sobbing, gasping for air, and without thinking Tony started pounding on the door, trying to get in and see what was happening.

“Peter! Peter, what’s going on!?” He tried the door handle, and cursed himself when he found it locked. What a stupid fucking idea that was. The screaming stopped for a second, just shuddery breaths before being renewed almost twice as loud and fearful as it had been the first time round. “FRIDAY, what’s going on? Is someone in there?” He knew how unlikely that was, if someone had tried to break in he would have been alerted, but right now he wasn’t thinking clearly and couldn’t get to the boy. He needed to get to him.

“There is no perceivable threat in there, sir.”

“You say it’ll feel good but it never does!” Peter wailed, talking to some imaginary figment of his mind, or, not so imaginary. “Please don’t do it. Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, please!” His voice got louder again as he begged, desperately, and soon after the screaming renewed itself.

Pepper just stood there in horror, not knowing what to do as she listened to the boy’s heartbreaking pleads. Tony tried calling for the boy again, attempting to snap him out of whatever this was, but it seemed the more he talked to him the worse it got.

Morgan had started crying too, and pretty soon both of their screams started feeding off of each other, getting louder and louder, triggered by hearing the other. Jesus Christ.

Tony wanted to leave, as horrible as it sounded, he wanted to walk out the door and never come back. He couldn’t help here, couldn’t say or do anything to help Peter as it just scared him more, so why bother? He slid down the wall to the floor, because even if he did want to leave he had to stay, even if it was just to listen to the boy’s terrified begging and wait and pray for it to end.

It took all of ten minutes, but it felt like days, for the screaming to stop. The kid’s throat must have been sore, but the crying still continued. They could hear him whimpering and gasping for air just to choke on it. Morgan was still wailing in confusion and fear at the unfamiliar sounds, and as it was probably dangerous to leave a newborn infant in such distress for so long, he told Pepper to go get her, knowing she’d feel better if she had something to do. She came straight back to him after, dropping down onto the floor next to him and sobbing quietly into his neck. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, planting a kiss on her forehead, and together they stayed, waiting for this living nightmare to be over.

~~~~~

Peter was curled up on the ground in his room, the cold sending a shiver up his shirtless spine as he tried to make himself smaller- both to get warmer and to hide himself. Michael Carson loomed over him, admiring the bleeding gashes and purple bruises he left on the boy’s body. As Peter tried to calm his breathing, his heart completely stopped when he heard a belt buckle and zip being undone. 

“Please no...” he whimpered, even though he knew by now that arguing against it just got him hurt even more, that was, after all, why he was in his current beaten down predicament. If he’d just agreed, if he’d even gone to the length to give the man a small smile when he burst through his door just half an hour ago, he wouldn’t have had to punish him and wouldn’t have been nearly as rough on him. This could all have been over right now, if Peter just hadn’t tried to fight him off, but he had, and all it had gotten him was a shit tone of pain. Why couldn’t he just behave?

The man grabbed at his legs, pulling him from his ‘hiding place’. Peter’s body dragged across the floor, irritating his injuries, and he barely had it in him to even notice the pain of the man’s nails digging into his thighs as he lifted his legs up and kneeled in between them. “Shut up. You deserve this.”

Terrified, he started gasping for air, struggling and squirming to get away from him. “N-n-no! Let me go, please. Y-you’re not real! This isn’t real! I go-got out!” He squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head from side to side in desperation as he tried to convince himself of what he was saying. This couldn’t be happening, he’d gotten out.

“Oh yeah?” Carson grabbed at the boy’s arms and pinned them down, then forced his knee in between his legs where Peter had been trying to squeeze them shut. Finally, eyes leering down at him with a predatorial gleam, he lined himself up and pushed forward, making Peter’s mouth drop in a silent scream and eyes burst open in utter shock at the sudden pain that ripped through him. “This feels pretty real doesn't it?” He pushed in roughly, right to the hilt , making him gag in pain.

As the man started to move, Peter started screaming and sobbing, “Please, stop! I made it out! You’re not supposed to hurt me anymore!”

“No. You will feel me every night when you go to bed. I can always hurt you in your dreams.” He leaned down so he was speaking directly into the teen’s ear and emphasized each word with a particularly hard thrust. “You. Are. Mine.”

“Stop it! Stop, it hurts! Please! Please, god, stop. Get it out!” He begged, but Carson just laughed. And then-

“Peter! Peter, what’s going on!?”

He jumped up at the loud banging sound with a gasp.

The first thing he noticed was the stickiness of blood on his arm, and the second thing was that someone was screaming. It took him a moment to realize it was him. He quietened down for a second, just shuddery breaths as he searched his brain for information on what had woken him up and why he was bleeding.

He looked around the dark room, and that was when he saw the shadows of people underneath the gap at the bottom of the door.

Sarah Carson was waiting outside the door, listening to her husband defiling the young boy but never stepping in to stop him. Peter tried to call for her but she didn’t come to his aid, instead, he watched as her shadow walked away. The next day she started taking her anger out on Peter too.

He screamed as the memories hit him, he screamed even louder when the door handle started moving again as someone tried to get in.

They were coming for him, he hadn’t gotten away, he was still there. They were  trying to get in, they were going to kill him. Had he blocked the door? Last time that hadn’t gone so well for him… Are you stupid? Haven’t you learned yet not to try stop him from getting what he wants? He’s just going to break the door down again like last time, and then he’s going to be even more angry with you.

His head started ringing in danger and his very being hurt from fear as he visioned Carson kicking the door down, and the thunderous look on his face, as he stormed towards him.

Was this real? Oh god please don’t let this be real.

“You say it’ll feel good but it never does.” He sobbed, he didn’t want this, he didn’t want this, he didn’t want it. Carson smirked down at him evilly, and Peter just drew his knees to his chest and rocked himself, the ghost feeling of hands grabbing him had him begging again, “Please don’t do it. Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, please.”

Some part of him knew that this wasn’t real, he’d already lived through this so it was a flashback, but his brain couldn’t process that as it sure fucking felt real. His chin being grabbed and forced to look up at the man’s cruel face had him screaming in terror again. Faintly, he heard a familiar voice, but it sounded muffled and to be quite honest he couldn’t bring himself to delve much into it as he was too busy fighting to get away from his own head.

It felt like time was on a loop, he couldn’t make out where he was or what was going on, it felt like forever that he’d been in this room with him. And the worst part was, he couldn’t even tell if it was real or not.

~~~~~

Tony cracked his neck from side to side as he was woken by the first bit of sunlight coming through the window. Well, ‘woken’ was a loose term, since he wasn’t too sure he’d actually fallen asleep. He couldn’t have just left Peter, and so had stayed outside, before eventually carrying both his girls to bed once they’d fallen asleep. Upon returning, as he sure as hell couldn’t do anything else, he spent the rest of the night pacing the corridor, straining his ears to try pick up any sounds coming from the guest room, and trying to stop himself from breaking down the door or picking off the lock to get to the boy. He couldn’t do that as that lock was the only thing that made the teen feel relatively safe here, he couldn’t take away the boy’s only bit of comfort. Some time in the early morning, when his legs had all but given out on him, he’d leaned back against the wall and fell into one of those not quite sleeps. One of the ones where you are physically aware of things around you but can’t properly process them or think.

Everything cracked as he stood up, and it was at times like these he was reminded that he really wasn’t as young as he once was anymore. He faintly wondered what exactly he’d do during his midlife crisis, as the stereotypical ‘fast cars, younger women, risk taking, and negligence towards money’ was just a regular Saturday to him. Well, was a regular Saturday. He wouldn’t dare cheat on Pepper- and he didn’t find himself wanting to- and he had a feeling that if he did something stupid and reckless now, after they’d had a baby, Pepper would kill his already injured, and/ or corpse, and he wouldn’t blame her for it.

He stared at the door, as though attempting to see through it, before asking quietly, “FRIDAY, is he okay in there? What’s he doing?”

“Sir, he is awake but is currently lying down.”

Oh… well he’d kind of expected the kid to be completely knocked out after last night. Should he knock? He didn’t know if that would make him start screaming again. Deciding to leave it, he went to check on his girls and upon finding them fast asleep, went down into his lab, he needed to get away for a while, and he’d like to do something he actually knew how to do again.

~~~~~

Déjà vous would have been a good word for it, as the same thing that had happened yesterday morning reoccurred again. Pepper and Tony were in the kitchen, cooing over their attention steeling daughter, and planning on leaving Peter alone and to hopefully sleep for the next few hours, just for him to come stumbling downstairs not half an hour later anyway. The boy was even paler than usual, and looked about on the verge of fainting. The two adults knew better than to talk about the events of last night when they saw the nervous fiddling of the boy’s hands.

Peter was wearing the hoodie Tony had bought him, after a long internal debate which resulted in him telling himself that Tony must have bought them him because he didn’t want Peter sullying his clothes anymore, and therefor he should wear the new ones instead. Plus, he needed something to cover his arms…

Again, Peter watched them longingly, as though wanting to be apart of their family but not daring to be anything but the outside observer. Tony was pretty sure that that was the main reason why the boy actually braved out of his room when they were all downstairs. He didn’t want to be left out. Either that or he felt like he had to, which either way the reasoning was heartbreaking.

Once again, déjà vous, as they gave him some breakfast, and watched him pick at it for a few minutes, taking small, hesitant bites every so often, all the while watching them apprehensively. This time though, they’d considered that maybe the reason they could never get him to eat anything was because they weren’t giving him anything he actually liked, so they’d laid out a bunch of different breakfast foods for him to pick out on his own. He was fourteen after all, so he should be old enough to choose on his own. The whole affair ended up being incredibly slow though, with each step of making the toast, be it opening the bag of bread or using the toaster, Peter had paused and looked at either Tony or Pepper for permission before continuing.

If it had been any other kid, one that didn’t look like he could break at the smallest touch or sound, Tony would have called him out on his lack of eating. But alas, it wasn’t, and so they had to resign themselves to smiling encouragingly at the boy as he took one tiny nibble after the other.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

What was this, Groundhog Day? Was all Tony could think as there was a knock at the door, once again startling Peter just like yesterday. He’d put FRIDAY on mute- unless someone specifically spoke to her- incase she scared Peter, a decision he was all the more regretting, as he could do with her telling him when- or who- was at the door.

Pepper gave him a look, which clearly said sort your face out, your annoyance is showing, so Tony grit his teeth and barely contained an eye roll as he stood up from the chair and watched his wife go to open the door.

Four people stood on the porch, which would have confused her if it hadn’t been for the fact that two of them looked like police officers and it was probably safe to guess that this had something to do with Peter.

A sudden, unreasonable gut wrenching fear filled her as she wondered why they were all here. Had Chase said something? Were they going to take Peter away from us? But she swallowed that panic down with the thought that it didn’t matter. Peter’s only meant to be staying for a few days, so why would it matter if he’s leaving today?

The four people walked in, leading to Peter letting out a small whimper at the sight as he curled into himself even further, which Tony previously didn’t think was possible. As Tony moved forward to greet them, he made it a point to place his body directly between Peter and the new people, his protective instincts- that he didn’t really know he’d had until recently- in full swing.

“Good morning!” said the women, who was around Tony’s age and had the aura of someone in charge. “My name is Erica Robinson. We’ve never met, Peter. I run the social services department related to foster care for this part of the city. I’ll be helping you with your… case regarding your previous foster parents.”

“What about the guy from yesterday?” Pepper asked, arms crossed and glaring the other woman down critically, not trusting anyone around Peter. It wasn’t like she wanted Chase to be here, she’d rather that guy stay far, far away from Peter, but she didn’t quite understand why he wasn’t here. Had they scared him off?  She wondered with a small smirk.

“Peter will see more of him. He works Peter’s placements and is in charge of getting him where he needs to be, but he’s not in control of the legal side of it. We’re here to go over everything that happened at the Carson’s house and, if need be, get started on working on his case against them.” ‘If need be’, were they implying that Peter didn’t have a solid case against them? Because one look at his medical file said different. Peter had started trembling all over again at the mention of the Carson’s, and Tony was next to certain that he was on the verge of puking up what little food he’d eaten today. “Chase would have been here, but he said he’s busy looking for the next perfect place for Peter.” Tony called bullshit on that excuse. “Peter knows how this hierarchy works, right bud?”

She didn’t seem at all phased when Peter didn’t respond. Everyone seemed to accept his practical mutism as completely normal.

“Now I hate to do this to you in your own home, but do you think you could step out for a while? Peter didn’t provide us with much information about what has been happening to him at the ER the other day.” Tony was pretty sure that that was code to mean Peter told them nothing. “So, I brought some police and a child psychologist to continue the interview now that he’s had a day of rest and a good night’s sleep, and things aren’t so fresh and scary.”

“He didn’t though. He was up for most of the night, and yesterday he had to go back to the hospital.” Pepper cut in, and Peter looked horrified at the near mention of last night’s events.

“Oh,” she deflated a little at the news and gave them a slightly accusatory look as though it was somehow their fault. “Unfortunately, we still need to talk to him today while it’s still fresh. I know you don’t like to talk Peter, so we’ll do our best to keep the questions yes or no. I even brought a legal pad so you can write out your answers if needed, alright hon?”

Still nothing. He didn’t even seem willing to nod or shake his head for her.

“I don’t know if you know this,” Pepper started, her face next to expressionless as she went into all-business mode. “But all of Peter’s stuff is still at his previous home. Mr Chase didn’t seem to think it was a high priority, but Peter wants his camera and rightly so, as it is his. I must insist that he gets everything back.” As she said this, she looked back and forth between the head social worker and the police officers, making a point to make sure all involved heard this.

“Peter told you this?” Ms. Robinson asked in a skeptical voice. Shit. Does the kid really have that much of a reputation of not ever speaking? He hadn’t said anything to them yesterday, except the quick thank you before he ran off and, of course, last nights screaming event, but neither of those could really be classed as talking.

“Yes. It’s important to him,” she answered firmly, her gaze turning steely as she stared the other woman down.

“Is this true, Peter?”

The teen looked up, slightly startled, and nodded nervously, his closed off body language opening up slightly at the mention of his camera. He wasn’t looking at her though. He was looking at Tony and Pepper, hazel eyes flickering between the two of them as though trying to figure something out.

“Could you write where you put it and what it looks like for me?” She asked, as she handed Peter the legal pad and a pen.

He took it and jotted out a quick note, his pen moving at an almost superhuman speed as he wrote, not allowing himself any time for hesitation. He handed the paper back with a sloppy note saying ‘under the bed, behind my backpack. I don’t want a replacement I want that camera’.

Tony noted that Peter’s hand was shaking from his own boldness, which he really shouldn’t have to be scared by.  It was a perfectly reasonable request. He did, however, wander what was so special about that specific camera, as it must be extremely important if he was daring to ask them for it. He definitely didn’t seem like the type to make demands otherwise. And there was also the question as to why all of his stuff was seemingly hidden away, under his bed. Was he overthinking this?

“I know, sweets,” Robinson cooed gently, and Tony was sure she didn’t realise how belittling she sounded. “I’m afraid I can’t make any promises, but I will put some people on the case.”

Peter clammed right back up into himself at those words, no longer interested in engaging in the discussion in any way.

“Now, really quickly before we begin, I have a big question- are you guys willing and able to take Peter for one more night? If not, I’m going to have to step out during the interview to make some phone calls.”

Tony knew what he wanted to say, but stayed silent, purposely leaving the answer to Pepper, even though he was pretty sure she felt the same way he did, maybe stronger. But after the screw-up he made the other night she needed to be the one to make that call. Let them both have ownership over it.

“Yes, of course we will keep him another night. Extending this a couple more days or even a week is totally fine, as long as you need,” she answered without any hesitation. Now it was Tony’s turn to be a bit blind-sighted. He was okay with it, of course, but it was still a bit disarming to hear her agree to having the kid for an unspecified amount of time, ‘as long as you need’.

“That would be amazing. We could move him to another temporary placement, but given Peter’s trauma, it would be best to minimize transitions. Ideally, his next move would be to a long-term home. Chase is still working on finding one as teenagers can be difficult to place, especially with his level of needs.”

Why was she talking like that in front of Peter? It just didn’t seem appropriate. And most definitely not asking them if he could stay another night while he was standing right there. What if the answer had been no and he had had to hear them reject him? Was this a matter of him not being able to talk, and so he seemed less present than he actually was, or did they treat all foster kids like this? As if they weren’t there and had no opinions. Speaking of which…

Tony turned his full attention to the teen, resisting the urge to place a hand on his shoulder to try ground him and maybe stop some of the shaking. “Peter, we shouldn’t be making these big decisions without asking you. Is this something you want? It’s okay if you’d rather go somewhere else.”

He flashed Tony a brief look of surprise, before looking down and nodding his consent. As he did this he bit down on his lip hard, and subconsciously started digging his nails into the palm of his hand again, causing some blood to form in both places. With a sigh, Tony crossed the room to grab a tissue to hand to him. If this was going to become a regular occurrence, he might have to start keeping them in his pocket.

He was pretty sure the self-harm wasn’t intentional—just a highly maladaptive nervous habit. Hopefully the child psychologist standing quietly in the background was taking notes.

“Right then. Now that that important matter is settled, we need to get started. So, can you guys step out for a bit? We’ll probably be an hour or so. We’ll call you when we’re done. Is that alright?”

Hmm, now let’s see, was Tony okay with the idea of leaving Peter alone to be interrogated about the abuse he suffered? Now that was a toughie. Peter shouldn’t have to relive it, even if it was legally necessary. But still, it didn’t seem like he had much of a choice seeing as social services were Peter’s legal guardian, not them. They were just the temporary hosts who didn’t have any real say in the kids’ life. They couldn’t kick him out of his own house though… “Oh of course, what guy wouldn’t want to leave a bunch of strangers alone in his house? I’m no chef but that sounds like the recipe for greatness to me.”

Pepper’s elbow jabbing him in the gut shut him up, as she indicated with her head to Peter who was looking all the more uncomfortable and scared at Tony’s annoyed aura. Tony sighed, closing his eyes for a second before saying, “look, I have a lot of stuff that needs doing, so we’ll go upstairs, out of your way, and you can do this whole interrogation thing at the table. Okay?” At least then they’d only be up a floor if Peter needed them.

He had the legal high ground, they couldn’t force him to leave, and so the woman begrudgingly agreed, allowing Pepper to show them to a more comfortable place for them to proceed. Peter stayed behind with Tony, shifting his weight from foot to foot. When he heard his name called, he looked up, eyes wide, then turned his head to look at Tony. And Tony was taken aback when the boy gave him a small, grateful, watery smile before running off to where the other adults were. Let’s just hope this goes well…

Chapter Text

Peter sat stiffly in the chair, his shoulders hunched to the point that it caused him physical pain, especially in the broken one which, despite the pills he’d managed to get himself to take earlier, still ached and throbbed horribly.

Everyone was crowded around him, Robinson sat in the chair next to him, the psychologist across from them, studying him critically, in a way that made him feel like an insect under a microscope, and inconspicuously writing in her notebook. Each time she wrote something in it Peter felt his stomach churn in anxiety about what she could possibly be writing about him. The worst part was, that a police officer stood behind him while another blocked the door. Both men had their arms crossed in front of them, watching him intensely as though prepared to grab him should he try to run.

The officer behind him shuffled even closer and Peter gripped the fabric of his hoodie tightly in his hand. He really, really hated it when someone stood behind him. The man was so close to him now that he could feel his body heat on his back and his breath on his neck. He wanted to stand up and shove him away, but the man was as big as a mountain. Peter felt so weak and helpless next to him, purely intimidated by the man’s size.

He dropped his head down and squeezed his eyes tightly closed as they filled with tears. He couldn’t help but make himself submissive with the much larger man towering over him. No one seemed to notice or care about his obvious discomfort, as they prepared to interrogate him. He pinched at his leg, trying not to choke on each quick, raspy breath he forced himself to take. In. Out. In. Out. So simple even Peter Parker should be able to do it.

“Right,” Robinson sighed, making Peter jump in surprise at the sudden voice, “let’s get started, shall we?” She laid out a legal pad and a pen in front of him, and Peter gulped in anticipation, picking the pen up at her expectant look.

Unexpectedly, the police officer by the door spoke next, a stern look on his face. “We’re going to ask you questions about what happened at the Carson’s place, and you need to answer honestly. Any lies will not be tolerated. If we find out that you’ve been lying, we will have to take legal actions against you. Am I clear?”

Peter nodded quickly, feeling incredibly hot all of a sudden.

“Let’s start at the beginning,” Robinson said, clasping her hands in front of her on the table, making Peter flinch back a little. “You were with the Carsons for seven months, correct?” He nodded, biting on his lip. It had been the longest he’d stayed in one place, unfortunately enough. He couldn’t quite believe that though, had he really been with them that long? Over half a year? That thought terrified him. “And during that time, did either Sarah or Michael Carson intentionally cause physical harm to you?”

Peter paled drastically at the question. The answer was clear, but he couldn’t get himself to reply. Not only had it been beaten into him, by many different people not to be a snitch, and not only had he learned no one actually cared even if he did tell, but the police officer's earlier words still rung clear in his head. Any lies will not be tolerated. He knew, logically, that it wasn’t lying if he said yes, but the unreasonable, over-thinking part of him panicked, what if they mistake your nervousness for lying? What if they don’t believe you? What if what the Carsons did doesn’t count as causing significant physical harm, for whatever reason? He didn’t want to get into trouble, so he tried his very best to look honest because only guilty people are nervous when answering questions, but him then thinking about trying to appear calm only made him sweat and shake more. Everyone was staring at him and he realised they were all waiting for him to answer. So for the second time, he nodded, breathing becoming harder yet again at the fact that he’d just snitched on the Carsons. In. Out. In. Out.

“Did Sarah Carson hurt you too, or was it mainly Mr Carson?”

She was arguably bad too, Sarah would look for any reason to slap or shove him around, and pull at his hair, yelling at him for being a whore and trying to steal her husband from her. Then she’d usually scream at him and shove him into his room, his cell, promising more pain when Michael got home.

Again, he nodded, and watched from the corner of his eyes as the officer behind him scribbled something into a notebook and the psychologist wrote something down, feeling so incredibly judged and alone.

“Did Mr Chase perform his monthly check-ins to see if you were getting on okay?”

Truthfully, Peter knew that Mr Chase has neglected his case. Whenever he came, he’d only stop by briefly, for a few minutes at best, and would completely disregard any sign that anything was wrong. Peter had gotten pretty good over the years at hiding when something was wrong, but Chase had literally caught him nursing a black eye at one point and didn’t say anything about it. Not to mention the fact that he’d even once called him and told him what was going on but he'd waved him off... But still, a stupid, pathetic part of him didn’t want to get the man into trouble by telling them any of this. It wasn’t Chase’s fault that Peter was needy and a trouble maker. Chase couldn’t be expected to put up with him and not get fed up, really. So there really was no reason why he should get into trouble for not doing his job properly when it was Peter’s fault for making his job so difficult. So, he nodded his head, not wanting to give them any reason to investigate Chase.

“And did Mr Carson rape you?”

Time stopped.

In. Out. In. Out. Now that mantra reminded Peter of a whole other thing.

He couldn’t… couldn’t breathe. Spots started appearing in his vision as the world began spinning around him. Faintly, he heard the voices of the police officers back at the hospital asking questions. How many times did the assaults happen? Can you tell us when they started? Did you do anything to suggest that you wanted to have sex with Mr Carson? Did you specifically say no? Can you tell us the names of the other men who had sex with you? Did you want to have sex with them?

Did you, did you, did you. It was all his fault! He was a teenage boy, things like this shouldn’t happen to him- not that they should happen to anyone. He must have done something wrong. He must have wanted it, that’s what Carson and his friends said anyway. He must have led them to believe he wanted to. It was all his fault.

“Focus, Mr Parker. The more you practice answering these questions, the easier it will be to answer them in court when in front of the jury and the Carsons.”

WHAT!?

He’d have to go in and see them again? He’d have to talk in front of everyone, including the Carsons, about what they did to him? He’d have to-

He wasn’t sure at what point he threw himself off of the chair, and made a run for the kitchen archway, regardless of the fact that he couldn’t currently see straight, but he’d forever be angry at himself for forgetting that there was an officer stood guarding the door, should he attempt something like this.

The man grabbed his good arm and pulled him back, shoving him backwards into the kitchen. They didn’t get to do anything else as next thing they knew a mortified scream ripped it’s way out of Peter’s throat. The boy dropped to the floor, making himself as small as physically possible and trying to make himself a dead weight so that they wouldn’t be able to move him.

Steps thundered down the stairs, and as soon as Tony skidded into the kitchen he immediately shoved the man blocking the door out of the way to see the poor boy curled up on the floor and sobbing his heart out. Glaring at everyone crowding around the kid, as though blocking him from going anywhere, he crouched down next to him and leaned in to hug him before realising what a horrible idea that was. We're not there yet. Trying to play it off, he instead reached for the chair behind the kid and pulled it out a little, and he didn’t notice when Peter actually moved to return the hug, nor the pure heartbroken look on the boy’s face when he saw that the man hadn’t actually been moving to comfort him.

He started sobbing harder, making it damn near impossible to catch any breath in the middle of his building panic attack. Despite being terrified of being touched, that didn’t stop his desire to be held and comforted. He’d used to love hugs so much when he was younger, and he hadn’t gotten any form of comfort in years. It felt like a hole was literally in his heart from the lack of care and affection starvation. He just wanted someone to hold and protect him, but that was never going to happen as everyone who should be shielding him was dead. And now he’d have to stand in front of a bunch of strangers, and be in the same room as them again, all on his own.

Pepper looked around in shock at the mess in the kitchen, a death glare settling in on the man stood by the archway, hand resting on the gun holster on his hip. “This interrogation is over.” She stated, already planning her argument for if they should disregard her. Peter was heaving for breath by this point, dark thoughts swirling around his head and tears streaming down his cheeks. Tony, completely avoiding touching the kid, was just quietly counting up and down from ten to the boy, and Pepper couldn’t tell if it was more for Peter’s benefit or for Tony’s.

“He barely answered anything, we must continue with the investigation.”

Tony was fucking furious, shouldn’t the kid matter more than the investigation? But he couldn’t dwell on it as he was still trying to bring Peter back down from his panic attack, which was proving to be quite difficult without the option of touching the boy to ground him back to earth. So he let Pepper talk, knowing from the look on her face that she had quite a few things to say.

“Doesn’t getting a victim to talk involve gaining a certain level of trust? Forcing him to sit at the table and answer questions he’s not comfortable with will only act against you. And you certainly shouldn’t be blocking the doorways to stop someone from leaving without a valid reason. A terrified teenager who did nothing wrong is not a probable cause for doing so. I understand we’re not his legal guardians, but this is still our house, and we no longer consent to you being here, so I suggest you leave.”

Ha! Try beat Pepper Potts when she’s defending someone who can’t speak up for them self. Tony thought she’d probably have been a lot better off being a lawyer than his assistant all those years ago, but hey, he wasn’t going to complain. Pepper didn’t have much of a stomach for the things she’d hear as a lawyer, anyway.

“As long as we can continue with it another day, it is probably best we leave it at this.” The psychologist said, the first thing she’d said during this whole encounter.

“Mmm, I suppose. I just wanted to get this over with.” Robinson sighed as she stood up, and Tony was about to snap good job it’s not about you then when Pepper spoke first.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” She gestured to the other room, wanting to ask about what happened in the interview and what had caused Peter to break down like this so they had a better idea on how to calm him, but obviously she wasn’t going to do that in front of the boy.

“Of course.” She stood up and followed Pepper into the living room, the two police officers and psychologist trailing after them not long after, with Tony glaring at their backs, to wait in their cars for Robinson.

“You’re doing great, bud, just keep trying, you’re doing so well.” Peter’s breathing had gone down quite a bit, but not fully, and with the full on panic nulled down to just a pit in his stomach, it just left a very exhausted looking boy slumped over on the floor. Tony knew panic attacks took a lot out of you, so his heart went out for the already sleep deprived boy. It truly wasn’t fair, that the teen had to put up with all of this when the only things he should be worrying about at his age was school and maybe applying for colleges.

Peter was staring at him in confusion as he continued to fuss over him and help him through it, not use to anyone comforting him during a panic attack. He was more likely to be mocked or belittled for it in his last few homes. Peter kept watching the man even as his eyes started to get heavier, blinking sluggishly at him in curiosity until his eyes eventually drifted shut as his body gave into its bone deep exhaustion.

He didn’t know that once he was asleep, Tony had shifted him so that his head was resting on the man’s leg instead of the hard floor. He didn’t know that when Pepper came back in ten minutes later that she helped him lift Peter up to take him to bed without waking him. He didn’t know that Tony had grimaced at how horribly light he was and how easy it was to pick him up bridal style.

He didn’t know that he’d been carried all the way upstairs, not until he woke up an hour later tucked into bed with a glass of water and a sandwich next to him, the door slightly ajar.

Chapter Text

The day went on in a thick silence.

Of course, that was only after the blow up Tony had when Pepper told him about how the Carsons were being let out of their holding cells until their trial date, as there wasn’t ‘sufficient evidence’ to keep them there. Which was why those people had come today, to try get Peter to give them something to keep the Carsons in waiting cells. They needed a confession.

But Peter hadn’t given them anything. And apparently the boy’s entire beaten puppy aura and positive rape tests weren’t enough evidence. Apparently they needed the traumatised victim to say what happened, because apparently that made sense. So now the monsters that hurt the poor kid got to walk free for the next month until the court hearing. Fucking bullshit.

Things had quietened down now, they knew Peter was awake as they’d heard him not long ago shuffling around upstairs. They’d laid Morgan down on a mat on the floor, so she could have ‘tummy time’ and the infant was shuffling her legs and arms a bit and squeezing the play toy they’d put by her. That was how Pepper first noticed that something was off with Tony, as usually the man was completely enraptured by the baby, but right now he wasn’t cooing over her and instead was staring into a space with a frustrated expression, fists clenching and unclenching.

Pepper grabbed his arm, jolting him out of his thoughts, and he jumped in surprise. “Geez Pep, I have a heart condition, you can’t do that shit to me.” He joked, but the humour in his voice wasn’t there. She half heartedly glared at him, having already told him that he needed to get a handle on his language before Morgan started talking and copying words. Which, considering she was Tony’s daughter, it wouldn’t be too shocking if she were advanced and started talking any day now.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked instead, and he snorted, about to say something stupid before his face dropped and he instead looked tired.

“I was just wondering… what you’d say if… if I told you that…”

The way he kept stop-starting, hands fiddling with each other, sent worry sparking through Pepper. Tony wasn’t the type to show nervousness. He was more likely to give a sarcastic quip when anxious, so the fact that he was so blatantly apprehensive put her on edge. She moved the hand that was on his arm up to his shoulder, putting a steady, comforting weight there. Suddenly he shifted on the sofa and turned to face her, the words just blurting out.

“I want to keep Peter.” He looked hopefully at her, but his face soon fell when Pepper looked sadly at him and dropped her hand back to her side.

“Tony… you have to understand why we can’t do that.” They’d just had a baby, and had only just met Peter. It would be absolutely crazy to so out of the blue adopt him. Especially now. Pepper could understand why he’d want to, but she was worried that he wasn’t thinking clearly. Despite how he may come off to some people, Tony was a very caring person who’d often make brash, impulsive decisions without thinking clearly, just to end up later regretting them. But he couldn’t do that right now, not when it concerned a teenage boy’s well-being, that just wasn’t fair.

Tony’s face suddenly grew angry, he stood up from the sofa abruptly, as though being near her burned him, and stared down at her. “No. I’m afraid I don’t. Care to enlighten me?”

Pepper sighed, already sensing the brewing argument that would take place. She watched as he picked Morgan up, and knew he was preparing to storm off upstairs with his best bud should such an occasion become necessary. “Tony, Peter needs to be somewhere that can give him the help he needs. Right now, social services are looking for a place that has experience with this kind of thing.”

Tony opened his mouth to object, to say that they could hardly trust anywhere someone like Chase would put Peter, but Pepper beat him to the punch as though having read his mind. “And if the people chosen manage to make it through both your interrogation and FRIDAY’s full background check, don’t you think it would be better for Peter to be with people who know what they’re doing, and are prepared to have him? People who can focus all of their attention and energy on helping him get better?”

“I think the kid would rather stay with us, where we can know he’s safe and won’t be hurt, than play Russian roulette on whether or not the next home will be good or not. We can take care of him, and help him get better. I know we can.” He said in a frustrated tone, but he was more upset than he was angry. He wanted Peter to stay with them, he knew the boy would be safe that way. As silly as it sounded, he didn’t think he could trust anyone with Peter other than them. And really, he knew he shouldn’t feel so protective of the kid after just a few days, but it was hard not to be after watching the boy suffer a panic attack right in-front of him.

“And what about how staying with us would affect Peter in the long run?” Pepper continued, “what do you think will happen when the press finds out about him? They’d find out about every single thing that has happened to him and put it out there for the whole world to see. They’d eat the poor boy alive. And if we kept him we’d have to go to court with him, and then the entire thing would be publicised and shown on TV just because we’re there. Do you really think Peter would want that!? And not only that, but as our kid there would be a target painted on his back.” She knew that that was a low blow, she knew Tony hated how his publicity would sometimes affect those around him, and he already worried about how him being famous could potentially hurt Morgan in the future, but she had to get him to see why this was a bad idea. Peter already had enough to deal with, he didn’t need to worry about the press harassing and exposing him on top of it.

Tony’s face fell, the fight leaving his body, making Pepper feel so incredibly guilty. “But… I want to keep him.” He said again, as though that solved everything.

“I know. But we have to do what’s best for him.”

Tony stared at her for a moment more, before turning around and leaving. Just as she’d predicted. If Tony was set on wanting him to stay, she knew she more than likely would be unable to change his mind. She just hoped he’d think about what was best for the kid first.

~~~~~

They hardly spoke to each other for the rest of the afternoon, just a few muttered words and hums of recognition as they went about their day and looking after Morgan.

At one point Peter went downstairs to find the living room empty, he looked around unsurely and was tempted to call out for them, but couldn’t get any words to leave his mouth. He knew it was stupid to think that if he made any noise someone would suddenly jump out and attack him, but he couldn’t help it. The noises he made by walking gave him enough anxiety as it was, he didn’t need to pile on to that. Be a pretty little thing that’s seen and not heard.

He tiptoed into the kitchen and was both relieved and confused to find no one there either. Looking around to make sure, he stepped further in. He looked back into the living room just to double check no one had come downstairs, before letting himself ever so slightly relax.

He wasn’t sure why he even came downstairs, but now that he saw an opportunity arise, since he was alone, he wasn’t about to pass up on it.

Peter didn’t like stealing, not in the least. In fact, whenever he did take food from someone, be it from a shop or his current residence, he always became overwhelmed with guilt at how wrong it was. He usually felt so sick after that he sometimes wouldn’t even end up eating the food he took, which would just make him feel worse for wasting it. But Peter had learned to prepare for starvation in advance, and currently his stock only consisted of half of that sandwich they’d left for him, which would only be good for another day or two. He needed to gather more.

The fact that the Starks had been so nice to him only made him feel worse for doing it, and vile for expecting such horrible things from them. But you could never know if and when someone would suddenly turn mean, and he didn’t know if the next place he was going to go to would be nice either.

He spotted some fruit on the side and took an orange, since it would be smaller and easier to hide than one of the apples. He didn’t know when they were bought, but he’d guess he had about a week before the fruit started to go bad. He would have preferred to get packaged food, like the Doritos on the table since they’d last a lot longer, but that would be too noticeable to take and the packets were always noisy.

Luckily for him the shopping Tony bought yesterday- had it really only been a day?- was still mostly on the sides, except from the refrigerated stuff. So it was easy for him to grab a few things. He ended up going upstairs with an orange, a Twix bar and a Capri-sun. The last one was risky as it had come in a box of eight and only one had been taken so far, Peter just had to hope and pray that they thought it was one of them who took it. He needed a drink to keep, so if things got bad he wouldn’t have to leave his room to get water.

He walked back over to the stairs, the Capri-sun and Twix slipped up his sleeves, rubbing horribly against the fresh cuts there. He paused at the top of the stairs which he assumed led down to a basement, when he faintly heard the beat to some rock song. He was pretty sure it was Led Zeppelin, maybe? The door at the top of these stairs which had, up until now, been closed was open, and Peter cautiously stood at the top of the stairs and saw at the bottom some large glass doors.

Peter could make out the figure of something moving and, squinting, he was shocked to see it was what looked like a robot. Under the faint blue glow- which must have been coming from something else in the room- he watched as the robot arm moved back out of his view.

Could that be Tony Stark’s lab? Could Peter actually be looking at Tony Stark’s lab? The idea of that almost made him squeal with excitement. How cool would it be to go down there and look at all of the awesome stuff that was sure to be in there? He desperately wanted to go see, but knew he wouldn’t be wanted. After all, who’d want some dorky teenage boy intruding on their work and messing around with their stuff? That thought in mind, he took one last longing look and moved to retreat before he could be caught staring.

He still couldn’t quite believe where he was, that he was in Tony Stark’s house. Where the hell had he lucked out to get here? It was like one of those crappy Whattpad stories where y/n gets adopted by One Direction or some shit. Except this was Tony Stark, and it was actually happening. To Peter of all people. Okay, maybe not the adoption part, but the fact that he was staying at his house was super cool too.

A younger him would probably have been completely starstruck, would be asking the man thousands of questions a second. And a part of him still wanted to do that, but he couldn’t afford to be trusting of the man just because he was one of his all time role models. They did say ‘never meet your heroes’ after all, did they not? He’d hate to be let down by him of all people, and Tony would just see him as the stupid, pathetic teen he was anyway.

Mr Stark wouldn’t want him around.

Peter went upstairs to the guest room, squeezing the orange tightly in his hand and trying to ignore the scratching of the Twix bar on his raw skin. He was flooded with fear when he thought he heard someone behind him, positive he was about to get caught, but no one showed up so Peter quickly locked himself in his room and sighed with relief.

Now he just had to hide his stolen goods and try not to break down from the guilt.

Chapter Text

Tony could hear her crying, but couldn’t yet get himself to respond. Why was it always just after he got into bed that she started? He’d fell asleep with Pepper not half an hour ago, and he was tempted to let Pepper get Morgan because he almost always did the night shifts. But if he had any chance of convincing her that he was responsible enough to look after Peter aswell as Morgan- and yes, he was aware he sounded like a child- he’d have to drop the spiteful mood he was in and go do it. Plus, Morgan was almost two weeks late and put Pepper through a three day delivery, which she was still recovering from, so he really was in no place to complain. And he didn’t actually mind doing the night shifts, since he was accustomed to no sleep and so far had been able to quieten Morgan down a lot quicker than Pepper. Ha, take that Pepper.

He sat up to go do it, rubbing at his eyes, and reached to grab the baby monitor. But he froze up when he heard the baby suddenly stop crying. Morgan didn’t know how to self soothe yet, so why had she stopped crying? Worst case scenarios in mind- someone was in there, she was suffocating, she’d fallen out of her crib, she’d been kidnapped- he jumped out of the bed and legged it down the hall, sliding to a stop in front of his daughter’s nursery.

He slammed the door open and was relieved, and surprised, to find not an intruder, but an utterly terrified and startled Peter, holding Morgan close to his chest.

Despite grinning at seeing the boy finally holding the baby, Tony realised how much him barging in must have scared the poor kid and went to apologise. “Sorry.” He paused when the baby monitors made a horrible squawk at being in the same room as each other, and clicked the switch on the one in his hand off. “Sorry, kid. I didn’t know you were in here.”

Without meaning to, Tony scrutinised how Peter was holding his daughter, but found himself satisfied to see that the teen was anxiously holding her tighter than even he did. Perhaps a bit too tight, but the infant wasn’t making any noises of objection and was instead making fascinated coos at the new person holding her.

Peter stumbled back from him at the scrutinising look, defensively putting his good arm in front of Morgan, as though worried Tony would hurt the both of them. Which was absolutely preposterous, as he’d soon rather die than intentionally harm Peter, let alone his sweet baby girl.

“Easy. It’s okay. Morgan’s a great cuddler, isn’t she? You know you can hold her whenever you want.” He assumed the kid was worried he’d overstepped a boundary by holding her, as his eyes kept drifting to the crib and back as though debating whether to risk getting closer to Tony to put her back. “She looks quite comfortable with you.” He noted, and for a moment Peter looked super proud and smiled down at the infant. “Have you looked after a baby before?” He asked, and regretted it soon after when the boy’s face fell and a haunted look took over him. What the hell happened to him and that baby?

He watched the two kids in silence for a moment, wondering whether Peter had seen someone hurt a baby before, and if he’d perhaps gotten blamed for it. Really, Tony was hating the human race more and more with each passing minute.

Peter calmed himself down a little eventually, eyes still travelling to and from the crib but otherwise he looked like he was just enjoying holding Morgan, and he had even started rocking her a bit.

“Since you’ll be staying here for a while longer, I’d really like to get you some more stuff. Maybe we could all go shopping later today? If you want to, that is.” Tony asked hopefully, if he wasn’t going to get to keep Peter, he was damn well sending him off with everything he could possibly ever need or want. Plus, in between all of the visits from various social workers Peter had hardly gotten a break. Maybe going out for leisure and getting some fresh air would do him good. “Actually, someone needs to take care of Morgan, so it would more than likely just be you and Pep.” He added, when he saw the fearful look the boy shot him. And it wasn’t only that, but Pepper’s words from yesterday still rung in his head about Peter being seen in public with them. He didn’t think he should go out with Peter, he wouldn’t want people to crowd around them or take pictures of the kid. Pepper was less recognisable, and Peter would probably feel more comfortable with her anyway.

Peter stared at him unsurely. He should probably agree, shouldn’t he? It would be in a public place so it’s not like they could do anything to him, right? He’d actually be safer out there than he was here in private with them.

His entire body felt shitty from lack of sleep, and the idea of going out into public where there’d be a bunch of loud strangers surrounding him sounded like the worst idea in the world to him, but if they wanted to, who was he to say no? Peter nodded his head, hoping the plans would fall through later on.

Peter’s attention was brought back down to Morgan when he felt a tug on his shirt. He couldn’t help but smile at her, she was looking right at him so innocently. He’d originally came into her room when he was on his way back from the bathroom and heard small whimpers. Not wanting the baby to be lonely, he’d gone in there to keep her company, but not longer after she’d started crying. Without thinking he’d picked her up, and his heart had literally swelled when she quietened down just because he was holding her. He knew it probably didn’t mean anything, she’d have been fine in anyone’s arms, but it had made him feel so incredibly happy for the first time in what felt like forever, that she had actually stopped crying because of him.

Tony watched them both again, it was an incredibly sweet sight. The kid in his pyjamas, hair completely ruffled, cuddling Morgan who was all safe and wrapped up in her wooly, light pink blanket. It was odd to think that Peter had once been like that. Someone’s innocent, untouched baby, whose parents must have looked down at and only imagined good things for. Not at all this hell his life had become.

It was impossible not to notice the heavy bags under the kid’s eyes, he looked completely exhausted and ready to drop. “You know, you really should get some sleep.”

The kid’s previously drifting closed eyes widened spectacularly, looking at the man in dread. Tony definitely wasn’t about to force the kid to go to bed, despite how much he looked like he needed it. He supposed he wouldn’t want to go to sleep either if he was anticipating one of those horrible night terrors Peter had had the other night.

It was four thirty anyway, so the crazy ass morning joggers (cough cough, Steve Rogers) would be getting up soon, so really, there wasn’t much harm in staying up now. “Okay, you don’t have to. I’m not really feeling sleep either.” Gathering that they’d probably be there for a while, Tony shuffled over to the rocking chair and sat down in it, and Peter looked a lot more relaxed now that Tony was sat and therefore less of an immediate threat.

Peter was a complete enigma to him, and if Tony was anything it was nosey. He liked to know everything about the people around him, and a mystery always had him excited. And while he didn’t want to invade the kid’s privacy, as it really wasn’t his place to know about the horrors that were inflicted on him, Pepper had mentioned something she was told by Robinson that had him intrigued.

“I heard from Robinson that you went to a STEM school?”

Peter looked at him in surprise, wondering where he was going with this and thankfully not looking annoyed at his intrusiveness. “So, are you more of a mathy-scientist, or a techy-engineer?” He asked, honestly wanting to know more about the kid. He must have an interest in one of them, as he doubted social services would help get just anyone in there, and Peter also must be pretty damn gifted to get in with his disadvantaged background.

Peter really didn’t know what to say, since he just liked learning in general. He liked the feeling he got when he solved an equation in maths or fixed a code in computer science, that sense of achievement. And he loved learning about the world around him and causing chemical reactions in science. He also absolutely adored how that linked in to bio-engineering, and looking at how technology could positively impact the future and save mankind from itself. But just because he liked all this, didn’t mean he was actually any good at it.

Peter knew he wasn’t at all on the bright side, and he didn’t even need the constant reminders that he was dumber than a bag of shit from his previous carers to know this. Back when he still actually talked, he could rarely ever get a sentence out without turning into a flustered mess and stuttering through it to the point that what he was saying was incomprehensible. What kind of fucking moron can’t even put a sentence together properly at fourteen? He was spiralling now, and probably looked like a right freak just stood there staring, holding the man’s daughter for no reason what so ever, and unable to even answer one simple question.

Peter wasn’t about to say he liked engineering and technology to Tony Stark of all people, as that was a sure way to look like a fool, and he wouldn’t blame the man for laughing at him for being such a pathetic wannabe. So shakily, he held up one finger to indicate the first one, maths and science.

“Oh that’s nice, what part do you like the most? If you want I can hook you up with Dr Banner, his expertise lie in nuclear physics and gamma radiation, which is quite interesting, but he also knows a lot about other fields…” Tony trailed off at the end when he realised that he probably wouldn’t get a chance to introduce Peter to one of his closest friends, and he hadn’t even told anyone about the teen yet. “I also know a lot about physics, mostly the physical side but if you ever want to ask me about anything just write it on a piece of paper or something and I’ll try to answer as best I can.” If he couldn’t introduce the boy to Bruce, he was going to make sure he answered whatever it was the kid wanted to know himself.

He was worried that the boy would look bored when he looked over, that he had absolutely no interest in any of those things, as Tony himself hadn’t even really cared about them until he was older. But he was delighted to see the kid listening with interest. So definitely an intellectual kid then. When he realised Tony was done, Peter nodded keenly.

It was a weird feeling to the teen that for once he wouldn’t be seen as weird for liking that kind of stuff.

Peter really wanted to ask Tony if he thought they’d ever find a unified theory of physics and whether he followed Einstein’s general relativity theory more or quantum mechanics. The former was good at explaining the motion of everything from golf balls to galaxies. But quantum mechanics was equally impressive in its own domain of atoms and subatomic particles. The problem was that the two theories described the world in two very different ways. In quantum mechanics, events unfolded against a fixed backdrop of spacetime, but in general relativity, spacetime itself was flexible. Peter personally preferred quantum mechanics.

Morgan was starting to feel heavy in his arms, and he was struggling to keep his good arm up. The one in the sling was fine, but had gone a bit numb from where the baby’s head rested on it. As though sensing he needed to put her down soon, Morgan let out a cry and Tony stood up to offer to take her off of him. “I know you’re enjoying holding her, but it’s about time for her morning bottle. Mind if I take her from you?”

Peter nodded shyly, letting the man walk over to take her and barely containing a flinch at him being so close. He’s only taking his daughter, don’t be so stupid.

Tony cooed random nothings at the baby, holding her as though there was really nothing to it, even though Peter actually found her quite heavy. “Do you want to come downstairs and get some coffee with me?” He knew he probably shouldn’t be giving the small teen caffeine, since the kid already struggled with getting to sleep and it would probably be really unhealthy for him, but he couldn’t fault himself when Peter jumped at the chance to get some fake energy and nodded delightedly. Tony could barely contain a snort, he was liking this kid more and more with each passing second. God dammit, he wanted to keep Peter so badly, but he unfortunately saw where Pepper had been coming from.

He smiled at the kid and started walking out of the room, knowing by now that the teen would more than likely trail behind him soon after.

Sure enough, Tony made it to the kitchen first and heated up Morgan’s milk a bit by putting the sealed bottle under the warm water running from the tap. Sixty seconds later when the milk was just about the right tepid temperature, Peter appeared in the doorway. The teen’s body was half hidden in the other room, his head bowed down and hair falling in front of his face.

“Do you want to sit at the table and feed her while I make us some coffee?” Tony suggested, he didn’t really want the kid standing up and holding her, as he still looked on the verge of passing out, but he could see how much more content the boy had been when holding her earlier. Peter looked up in surprise, did he really get to feed her?

Tony pulled out a chair for the kid then stepped away, gesturing for him to sit down. With a smile, but still extremely cautious and tense, Peter shuffled over and sat right on the edge of the seat. He leaned away when Tony got closer and squeezed his eyes shut in fear when the man got close to him. He only opened his eyes when he felt the weight of Morgan in his arm and lap. Tony maneuvered the kid’s hand that was coming out of the sling and put the bottle in it, so the boy could comfortably hold the baby and the bottle without straining his bad arm. When Morgan immediately latched onto the bottle and started sucking, Peter couldn’t help the short laugh he did as he beamed down at her.

It was so nice to see the kid smiling, Tony would have to make sure to let the boy hold Morgan as often as possible from now on. He wanted to take a picture of the two but doubted Peter would like that. Instead, he went to the coffee machine and turned it on. The machine had a screen at the top that you could scroll on to pick whatever hot drink you wanted. Tony only really drank black coffee or a triple shot of espresso, so it was mainly Pepper who tried the more unusual drinks. He wasn’t sure what type of thing Peter would like, and it wasn’t as though he could ask him. “Got any preferences or should I surprise you?” He asked anyway, and Peter looked over at him and shrugged halfheartedly with a polite, timid smile. Tony turned back to the machine and scrolled aimlessly on the screen until it came to a stop. It stopped on a strawberry Frappuccino, which was a risky move as that could very easily be something you’d either love or hate. It was lower on caffeine though which was good, and it had a lot of sugar in it which was fine because the kid needed to put on some weight.

“You don’t have any allergies do you?” He belatedly remembered to ask, and wow, if he weren’t currently breaking Pepper’s rule of no caffeine between 9pm and 5am she’d be proud of him.

“Mm mm.” Peter hummed, shaking his head. Tony smiled at the close to verbal response, then positively grinned when he heard the boy giggle quietly at something Morgan must have done.

When the quite impressive looking drink was done, he placed it in front of the boy who stared at it in wonder before pointing to himself to ask if it was for him.

“Yep, it’s all yours, kid. Don’t worry if you don’t like it though, I imagine strawberries and cream is pretty sickly, especially for the morning. You can have something else if you want.”

Tony sat down at the end of the table away from Peter, and waited for the boy’s reaction. It seemed the kid had a sweet tooth, as he soon gulped the drink down through the straw, pausing to lick the cream off of his lips half way through and blushing when he noticed Tony had been watching him. “Slow down, kid, it’s not going anywhere.” He chuckled, and Peter sheepishly nodded, leaning back on the chair away from the drink, making Tony feel bad.

Morgan was at the end of her bottle and now looking for something else to take her attention until she went back to sleep in about half an hour. “It’s still too early to start getting dressed, do you want to watch tv for a bit?”

Not seeing any other option, Peter nodded and struggled to get his jelly feeling legs to stand up while keeping a good grip on the baby. It didn’t slip the teen’s notice that Tony was watching them anxiously, as though preparing to grab Morgan at a moments notice should Peter fuck up and trip or drop her or something. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the intense gaze. He slowly lowered himself onto the sofa.

His back was as straight as a rod as he watched Tony move about in his peripheral vision, too scared to move even an inch to properly look at what he was doing. He could feel him getting closer to him, and squeaked and jolted away when the man put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, sorry, bud. Was wondering if you wanted me to put Morgan in her Moses basket?” He pulled the pretty, white wooden basket and stand closer, and Peter eyed it for a moment before nodding and letting Tony reach to take his daughter. Of course he had to fight back from squirming at the man’s hand being so close to his lap when he put his hand under the baby’s head, but it didn’t last long and they soon both went to settle down on the other sofa away from him.

Tony chucked Peter the remote and a blanket and told him to pick something while he got Morgan set up.

Not at all ready to take on this responsibility of picking what they were to watch for the next hour or so, Peter clutched the remote tightly in his hand and watched the man, waiting for any sign he’d changed his mind.

Tony was preoccupied changing Morgan’s diaper and outfit for the day, so it really wasn’t like he was putting any pressure on him or anything, Peter was just being stupid and over thinking, as per usual.

He turned the tv on, eyes flickering between the screen and the man for any sort of sign something was wrong as he looked for something to put on. His eyes widened in awe when he came across Star Wars: A New Hope. He hadn’t seen that movie in so long. It had at one point been his favorite film, he knew it word for word, but after getting put in the system it wasn’t like he could be picky about what he watched, as most of the time he was just lucky he was allowed to sit around and watch tv at all. He’d watched a bit of Star Wars: The Last Jedi last year, when one of his old foster families put it on just after it came out, but he still hadn’t watched it properly yet and hadn’t seen any of the other movies since he was eleven. Ahhh, he wanted to watch it so badly, but the movies were long and he didn’t want to make the man sit through it if he was uninterested.

Peter stayed hovering over the film, looking over at Tony to wait for some sort of reaction to what he wanted to pick. But the man wasn’t looking at the screen, he was busy wrapping Morgan up- rather messily- into her blanket. Peter watched him gently place the infant into her basket and fiddle around with the blanket a bit more, before stretching his leg out to rock it with his foot and lean back into the sofa.

Peter was trembling with anxiety as he watched the man look at the screen, intently searching for any sign at all in the man’s face that he didn’t like the franchise, or thought Peter was weird, and prepared to skip past the movie as though nothing had happened. The man’s face unfortunately didn’t give anything away though, and he didn’t even realize Peter was waiting for him to say something until he turned his head to the side and his eyes met the boy’s watery, desperate ones.

“I haven’t watched those in a few years, have you seen them before?” He asked casually, as though he hadn’t noticed there was a sheen of sweat forming on the kid’s body. Peter nodded, his nails digging deeply into his palm again. “So you’re a sci-fi kid, huh?” Again, Peter nodded, face going bright red in embarrassment. “Well that’ll be good to watch then. Put it on if you want.”

Peter blinked deliriously at him, unsure whether he’d heard correctly or if he was being mocked. The two stared at each other, apparently in a silent agreement with each other to not move a muscle, until Peter looked away because umm, eye contact, no thanks. His hands shakily picked up the remote and clicked on it, rigidly leaning back to try look normal and relaxed when Tony inconspicuously stretched out on the sofa he was on. Within the first minute and a half Peter couldn’t help but smile as he was overcome with a heart-swelling sense of nostalgia.

During the first ten minutes he couldn’t help but keep looking at Tony to make sure the man was enjoying it as well and didn’t look bored, as he was more than willing to turn it off if he didn’t like it. He didn’t think he was being that obvious until Tony smirked and said, “kid, I know young Mark Hamill doesn’t hold a candle to my dashing looks, but I do think he’ll be a lot more interesting to watch than me at this precise moment.”

Peter’s face flushed red again, eyes snapping back to the tv and resolving to stay there. It wasn’t long until he was completely sucked back into his favorite movie universe, feeling happier than he’d felt in a long time. And he didn’t notice when his mouth started moving along with the words on the TV, the script almost like muscle memory at this point, after having watched it so many times when he was a kid. But Tony did, and smiled at finally seeing the boy so at peace.

Chapter Text

It was nearing eight by the time the movie had finished, during which Tony had made them both another coffee but Peter’s attention had stayed stuck on the tv. He handed the kid his drink with a smile, and the teen had distractedly taken it off him, leaning closer and closer to the tv during the tense scenes.

It had been quite amusing watching the boy unknowingly quietly mumble some of the main lines and jolt along with the characters at the more action packed scenes, as though pretending to actually be a part of the movie.

When the credits rolled in, and the Star Wars anthem started playing, Peter leaned back into the sofa with adoring eyes at the screen. Not a few seconds later, Tony was displeased to see the boy clam right back up into a nervous shell. It had been so nice seeing the teen actually comfortable around him for once, but all good things must come to an end.

“This was fun, we’ll have to watch the next one some time.” He suggested, because he really, really wanted to do this again with the kid, and he didn’t know how much time they had left with each other before he was taken to a better family.

Peter smiled weakly, he had enjoyed it too, oddly, but that didn’t mean he was going to let his guards down around the man. As while his heart was telling him he wanted to do it again too, his head was going on overdrive thinking- what if he’s tricking you? Trying to gain your trust so he can catch you when you’re off guard? So he can suddenly turn on you when you least expect it, and lash out at you, and grab you, and break your trust, and hurt you, and-

Peter held his breath to calm himself down and stop himself from hyperventilating. The man had only offered to watch a movie with him, Peter needed to chill the fuck out, he was probably only trying to be polite.

Tony was about to say something else, but was interrupted when Pepper came downstairs, after having the best sleep she’d had in a while. Tony was unsurprised to see her fully dressed and showered at this time of the morning, despite not knowing of any plans to go out; that was just Pepper for you.

“Good morning, Peter.” She said with a smile, and Peter gave her a twitchy wave and another weak smile.

Pepper smiled back and then leaned over the bassinet to pick up their daughter. “And good morning to you, sweetheart! Are you having a nice time down here with daddy and your new friend?”

Morgan made a gurgling sound in lieu of conversation, and Pepper gasped as though amazed by what she said. “Oh really? That does sound fun. And daddy’s dressed you, I see? Pink, yellow, green and red all at once? What a bold choice.” She teased, and Tony pulled a mock wounded expression.

“Really? Is this what three years of marriage has come to? I don’t even get a good morning, all I get is an insult to my fashion taste? Why, it’s like a slap to the face, Miss Potts.”

When they first went clothes shopping for their daughter- aka as soon as they found out she was pregnant and again when they found out the gender- they discovered that the both of them had two very different clothes aesthetics in mind for the baby. Pepper preferred more traditional, elegant looks. Little sailor-suits,  shorts and dungarees for a boy, and frilly dresses and socks and bonnets in pastel colours and whites for a girl. Tony however, was much more out there with it. Brightly coloured tops and leggings, vests which said things like ‘I still live with my parents’ or, ‘that awkward moment when your mom sniffs your but in front of your friends’. This led to a very mixed wardrobe for their baby girl, and a competition had risen between the two of them over the last week and a half to be the first person to dress the baby for the day.

Tony could kind of see where she was coming from today though. Morgan was wearing a red top saying ‘sorry boys, daddy said no dating’, some bright yellow leggings with bumble bees on them, soft green socks and a pink wooly hat. It was quite the clash of colours now that he thought about it, and the hat did seem rather odd considering she was wearing a short sleeved top too. But he didn’t want her head to get cold! So sue him.

“We’ve been married for two years, sweetheart.” She corrected, making her way to the kitchen with Morgan. “And has daddy fed you yet?” She again asked the baby, having disappeared into the kitchen now but Tony knew it was a question meant for him.

“Yep, she had a bottle when she woke up, and another half of one not long ago.”

“And has he fed Peter?”

Tony froze. No he had not fed Peter, but he really, really should have. Pepper must have taken his silence as an answer, and popped her head back out from the kitchen, looking at Peter who was also frozen in his seat, knees pulled against his chest.

“Peter? Has he fed you?” She asked, and they both watched as the boy’s eyes flickered between Tony and her, clearly trying to decide whether he should lie for the man or not. It became apparent that the teen wasn’t going to answer, so Pepper just moved on not wanting to put the boy on the spot. “But you had time to make coffee I see.”

“We were in the middle of a film, I forgot.” That was a stupid excuse, he knew it was. He’d gotten up twice during the movie to make coffees and hadn’t even thought to ask the kid if he was hungry. Not just any kid either, the one that had been literally starved down to skin and bones and wouldn’t dare make himself food or ask for any himself. Ugh, Peter definitely deserved better.

Pepper sighed in frustration, she couldn’t believe he’d forgotten to give the kid anything. “Peter, are you hungry?” She asked, smiling sweetly at the boy and trying not to let the frustration at her husband show.

Peter fearfully shook his head, shrinking further back into the sofa.

“See? The kid’s fine!” Tony exclaimed, and this time Pepper couldn’t help but be frustrated.

“Are you serious, Tony? Of course he’d say he’s fine!” She snapped, “and don’t give me ‘we were watching a film’ because that didn’t seem to stop you from pumping the both of you up with caffein.” Peter needed real sleep, he didn’t need to fall into Tony’s old habit of going days without sleep and downing caffeine instead, because those events always ended with the man having a full on break down, which Peter absolutely did not need help with. “How do you expect him to recover properly if he has no sleep and doesn’t eat properly?” The teen had already skipped most meals since being here, they were doing a horrible job of taking care of him.

“Oh relax, it’s only just eight in the morning, he can have breakfast now!”

“I never said he couldn’t have it now, what I’m saying is you should have at least offered it to him when you woke up.”

Soon they both bursted into yelling about proper house-guest etiquette and how to take care of a kid. Both of their voices drowned each other out, and neither of them noticed Peter’s growing anxiety and stress, more so when the argument turned to be about Morgan, and he had to worry not only about himself but about if they’d hurt her. Of course if that happened, Peter would have to jump in and save the baby, like he’d done for younger kids plenty of times before. And then he’d have his ass handed to him, because if there was one thing people hated more than a scrawny teenager stepping out of place and fighting them, it was being corrected on how to treat their own child.

Luckily they didn’t seem to make a move towards the baby, not until she started crying anyway and Pepper picked her back up.

Warning bells went off in Peter’s head, he needed to get the baby away from them but he couldn’t. So he settled for the next best thing, which was to draw the attention to himself.

Letting out a vicious scream, he slipped off the sofa and onto the floor, kicking out with his legs.

“Whoa, whoa, kid, what the hell?” Tony said, as both of them turned to see the kid having what looked like a full on tantrum on the floor.

“Peter?” Pepper asked, trying to step closer to the boy, but he just continued to flip out and one of his legs almost unintentionally kicked Pepper in the shin, which would have sent both her and Morgan to the floor. That put Tony into action, as he kneeled on the floor and tried to grab at the teen’s legs to pin them down.

That obviously had the boy’s screaming and struggles renewed, as he started kicking out and crying, more in panic and fear now instead of his previous reasoning of protecting Morgan.

“Peter. Peter, you need to calm down, you’re going to hurt yourself.” Tony loosened his grip a bit on the boy’s legs when he took to sobbing hopelessly on the floor instead of hitting.

Peter was mumbling something repetitively, and Tony had to lean a bit closer to hear.

“Please don’t hurt us, please don’t hurt us, please don’t hurt us.” The teen’s eyes were glossed over and unfocused, his mind closed off in fear, and so Tony was pretty sure the boy didn’t even realise he was talking.

Us? Was Peter talking about him and Pepper or him and Morgan? Since the screaming had started after Pepper picked Morgan up, he was going to guess the latter.

Tony was completely at a loss of what to do, so he did what he normally did in these situations and just let his mouth talk for him without thinking it through. “I felt a great disturbance in the Force. As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.” He began to quote from the movie they’d just watched, in a voice hopefully resembling that of Obi Wan Kenobi’s. “Pain, suffering, death I feel. Young Sky Walker is in pain, great pain.” Pepper watched him in confusion, but Peter seemed to understand what he was getting at as he blinked up at him tearfully, hiccuping a bit from holding in more sobs. Damn, Tony loved his brain. Tony put his hand on the boy’s good shoulder, and after flinching back at first Peter just continued to stare at him in fascination. Pepper and Tony both smiled in disbelief that the boy was actually letting him touch him.

“Peter, neither of us are going to hurt either of you. No matter what, you and Morgan are safe here.”

The teen was still sniffling, and rubbed at his eyes in an attempt to get himself to stop crying. He’d give them the benefit of the doubt that they wouldn’t hurt Morgan. Since everyone hurt Peter but not everyone hurt their own kids, and Tony and Pepper seemed to really love their daughter. He now felt stupid for doing what he did, for kicking up a fuss and tantruming on the floor like a two year old, for no good reason. They wouldn’t hurt Morgan, but Peter damn well deserved a good slap or a kick in the gut right about now.

“Peter, I’m sorry for yelling.” Pepper started, looking close to tears, “it’s just- I’ve been a little stressed out lately coming to grips with Morgan and-” and you, “and being a mom, and it came out the wrong way. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, and it’s good for couples to argue sometimes. It had to happen eventually and now it’s over.” Tony added. They hadn’t had a fight in a while, since he hadn’t wanted to upset her while she was pregnant and they’d both been too happy since Morgan was born. So everything that had annoyed or frustrated each other had just remained unsaid and it had to come out eventually. They’d just have to keep note not to argue in-front of Peter again.

“But we’ll never take it out on you.” Pepper said. She couldn’t believe he thought they were going to hurt him and Morgan. That poor boy.

“No, never. And don’t worry about me either, Pepper’s been telling me off for years.” He joked, and Pepper shot him a playful glare. Peter gave a small, nervous giggle, still rubbing at his eyes and probably just glad they weren’t mad at each other anymore, but still. It was something.

They all went quiet for a few moments, until Tony came up with an idea. “Hey, me and Peter were already planning on us going out shopping later, why don’t we all get some breakfast at a café or something?”

“That sounds like the perfect idea.” Pepper agreed, “Peter, why don’t you go get dressed?”

The teen nodded, more than happy to leave the situation he’d gotten himself into, even if he was kinda enjoying the small bit of physical comfort he was getting in the form of a hand on his shoulder.

Once she was sure he was upstairs, Pepper turned to Tony to continue her apologies. “I’m so sorry. You two looked like you were having such a nice time and I ruined it.”

“No, you didn’t ruin it. And you were right, I should’ve given him something.”

They both went quiet again, until Pepper looked at the TV to see it at the end of a Star Wars film. “Star Wars?”

“Yeah, turns out the kid’s a sci-fi geek. You should’ve seen him. He knew the movie word for word and was mouthing along to it. It was quite glorious.” Tony had this sort of proud look on his face, the one he got when talking about something he really cared or was excited about, so Pepper was unsurprised when he continued to talk about Peter with animated detail. “Oh, and not only that, but he’s also super interested in science in general. I mentioned how Robinson said he went to a STEM school, and I asked him about it and told him about Bruce’s work and he’d looked very intrigued. He was also holding Morgan when I found him, and I let him feed her a bottle and he’d looked super happy about it, so we’ll have to let him do that more from now on.”

“That’s great, sweetheart. It’s nice to hear he’s opening up. Now why don’t you go get dressed too so we can go?” She knew that when her husband was excited about something, he could talk about it for hours and hours. And she also knew that if there’d been any doubt about him wanting to keep Peter, that it had been completely diminished today.

Shit.

~~~~~

After a ten minute debate about whether Peter would feel more comfortable with them in a car or walking, they settled on driving since it was too far a walk to get to somewhere with any good shops, and it would be too cold out for Morgan. Plus Pepper had come to the conclusion that the teen would be okay trapped in close proximity to them, because they’d be in the front and he’d be in the back, so they wouldn’t really be able to do anything to him even if they tried.

Tony carried Morgan out, who was already in her car seat, and buckled it into the back of the new Audi A8 he’d bought, since he’d needed a car with a backseat and an actual roof. Pepper was locking up inside the house, which left Peter stood awkwardly by the front door. His stomach kept doing horrible flips, making him feel sick, as the anxiety about what they were doing set in. He knew it was stupid, they were only going shopping, but really, did it have to be for him? He already had everything he needed, they really didn’t have to do this.

“Hey, kiddo! Can you come help me with this, please?” Tony called from the car, still leaning through the door he was putting Morgan in from.

Against better judgment, Peter did in fact go over to him. Scuffling down the porch steps and over the path.

“Can you climb into your seat for me, Pete? And tell me if you see a red lever.”

Peter nodded and did as he said, getting in on the other side with the thought that if this were a kidnapping, he was a damn right idiot for going along with it so easily. He looked at the expensive looking leather seats, and grimaced at the idea of sitting on them. He would surely dirty them, wouldn’t he? Maybe they had a blanket or something for him to put down.

“Can you see it?” Tony asked, and Peter nodded. “Ok, press that down for me, it’s pretty stiff so push hard.” Peter went to do as he said, leaning over the seats, not yet sitting down on them, to quickly find that it was indeed quite stiff and he needed to use two hands. He sat down right at the edge of the seat closest to the door, and tried again to push it down.

“These seats are a nightmare to get in and out, I’m telling yah. But at least we know she won’t go flying mid-drive.”

Peter smiled politely, managing to click the lever down. Tony gave the baby’s head a kiss, before closing the door and getting into the front seat. He was still talking, but Peter couldn’t tell if it was to him or himself.

“I could probably make a better one, I’m sure people would appreciate one that’s easier to use. Ha, imagine that. Stark Industries becoming a baby furniture manufacturer.” He snorted, before looking into the car mirror to see Peter wasn’t in the back. He was instead just stood outside the car, looking a little lost. “Hey, buddy? You gonna get in or what? Someone needs to look after Morgan.” He said, hoping adding Morgan into the mix would kick the kid into action.

Sure enough, the boy snapped his head to the side to look at him in surprise, and Tony just gestured with his head for him to sit.

Peter couldn’t quite believe it, he wanted him to look after his kid? He trusted him to look after his kid? Why? He didn’t look like he was joking, and he was waiting for him to get in. Peter’s clothes were new, so he supposed they’d be okay to touch the expensive leather. As long as he didn’t let his skin touch it, because his skin was… his skin was dirty, it was tainted. They hadn’t offered him a shower yet, so Peter hadn’t had the chance to wash them off of him yet, so until then he’d just have to refrain from scratching his own skin off and put up with it.

Peter hesitated for a moment more, but Morgan had tilted her head and was staring directly at him as though expectantly, and Peter couldn’t just refuse forever, he’d have to get in eventually. He got in the car and pulled the door closed behind him, his heart thumping wildly at the ‘thrilling’ act he’d just committed. God, he was such a pussy.

“Just keep her entertained for us, yeah? There’s a bottle in the bag too but she shouldn’t need it.”

Peter nodded, he was fully prepared to take on this responsibility and do everything he could to keep the baby happy.

However now that he’d thought about it, about all of the things that had touched his skin and that he could still- in his head- feel on his skin, he didn’t want to contaminate the small baby, so he’d avoid touching her from now on too. Hopefully they’d give the infant a bath tonight, because now it was in his head he couldn’t stop thinking about all of the germs he’d passed on to the baby. Carson’s hands, Carson’s body, Carson’s…

And there was the urge to scratch his own skin off again. He had to refrain though, as if they were going to make him try on clothes he couldn’t have his arms bleed on them.

They both sat in silence waiting for Pepper, who seemed to be taking an incredibly long time. Tony mumbled that she always did this, and text her.

It was probably only another two minutes, but it felt like hours to the both of them as they sat in a tense silence. There was only so much conversation Tony could initiate without getting any sort of verbal response in return.

Pepper walked over to the car in a different outfit to what she’d been in before, and when she got in and saw Tony’s questioning look, she’d just said that she needed something more suited for shopping. Tony had continued to stare at her wordlessly, leading to Pepper exclaiming ‘what?!’. Tony had then just snorted and started up the car, leaving Pepper in confusion.

It was about a forty minute drive and they were now in a more industrialised part of New York, as opposed to the quieter outskirts the house was in. Pepper had put the radio on quietly and Peter couldn’t help but smile bitter-sweetly when Rihanna’s song ‘Umbrella’ came on, as it had been one of his Aunt May’s favourite songs, and they’d use to dance to it.

Morgan had grown fussy about ten minutes in, and as Peter was adamant against touching her now he took to playing a silent game of peekaboo.

Eventually Tony went up a ramp to a car park connected to the shopping mall they were going to and said that they were there. He parked the car but as Pepper and Peter moved to get out he didn’t move and looked deep in thought.

“Tony?” Pepper called, handbag on her lap and door partially open.

“I umm… why don’t just you two just go.” He suggested, and Pepper’s face collapsed in guilt as she had a guess on the reason why he wanted that.

“Tony, if this is about what I said yesterday…” she assumed this was about him being worried about being seen in public with Peter, and not wanting to attract media towards the teen. A thought which Pepper had stupidly put in his head.

“No, no. That’s not it. It’s just, Morgan shouldn’t be around so many people yet. She might catch something.”

Pepper looked at him disbelievingly, not at all believing his excuse.

“I’m serious! You two go, have fun, I’m gonna take Morgan on a walk somewhere. I hear babies are excellent girl magnets.” He joked, which had Pepper feeling less guilty and instead shooting him a look.

“Okay, fine. You two be good. I’ll meet you back here in a few hours?” She succeeded, and Tony didn’t respond and instead dug around in his pocket, pulling out his wallet.

“Peter, take this. Get yourself something nice for me. And don’t let Pepper drag you around some nail salon.” It was probably a bit pointless giving the kid money when Pepper had a million dollar credit card in her bag that she could buy the boy whatever he wanted with. However, Tony hoped it would make the kid more comfortable not having to ask her for things.

Peter nervously reached to take the cash being offered, and his hand literally cramped around the papers when he saw that there was five twenty dollar bills there. He gaped at the man in the car mirror, who just smirked in return.

“Okay, let’s go.” Pepper sighed, still feeling bad about putting Tony off of joining them. She didn’t know that this was all part of some scheme the man had come up with, to get her and Peter to spend some time together. That it was all a ruse so that she’d fall as in love with the boy as he was. But if she did know, she’d probably have smacked the man upside the head before thanking him. “I’ll see you later, sweetheart.” She said, giving Tony a kiss.

As they got out of the car, she missed the successful grin Tony had as he waved them off. And after watching them both get into the elevator to one of the main floors of the mall, he turned in his seat to face his daughter and said, “Well Morgie, let phase one of Operation Big-Brother commence.”

God he loved his brain.

~~~~~

Okay, so Peter was a complete and utter sweetheart, this she had come to learn as fact.

When walking out of the elevator area and to the shopping centre, he’d held the door open for her and gestured for her to go first with a shy smile. Then after having some breakfast at a French café, Peter had offered her the rest of his strawberries- which she’d refused, obviously- and then he’d tried to give her enough money to pay for both of their meals like a proper little gentleman. She’d convinced him to let her pay, but exchanged him change so that he could pay for half of his meal to make him feel better.

They then walked around a clothes store for a bit, which he hadn’t been very interested in picking out clothes for himself but he did help Pepper find some dresses for her that he thought were nice. Then she’d put on a little fashion show in the changing rooms, and he gave her a thumbs up and a smile for the outfits he thought looked good on her, and tilted his head to the side for the ones that weren’t that great. Of course, she couldn’t have him walk out of there without getting any clothes for himself, and she’d eventually gotten him to pick out a hoodie and a shirt which said ‘if you believe in telekinesis please raise my hand’. Peter had snorted when he read it, and Pepper was joyed to see a little bit of his personality coming out. He’d also gotten a long sleeved button up flannel shirt to wear open over it, because he knew he couldn’t have his arms out on display.

They’d then gone to a book store, where Peter had picked up Lord of The Rings and a book he’d never heard of before called The Quiet At The End of The World. He then saw Pepper looking at some of John Grisham’s books, and Peter had shyly picked up one he’d read before and passed it to her. Pepper was taken by surprise that he’d read it, and thanked him for the suggestion, and of course she’d had to buy it after the boy had been so sweet as to recommend it to her.

They were now, against Tony’s suggestion, at a nail salon, as Pepper couldn’t really think of where else to take him and they both needed to sit down for a bit. She didn’t want him to be bored, but she’d never taken care of a teenage boy before and didn’t know what he’d enjoy. Okay, maybe not completely true. Being with Tony was sometimes like babysitting a teenager, but he had no problem expressing when he was bored and running off to do what he wanted, but Peter obviously wouldn’t do that.

To be fair though, the boy looked quite relieved to be sat down for a bit, and had his new book on his lap not yet opened. He was anxiously looking around the room, flinching every time someone walked behind him.

“Peter, why don’t you move your chair here next to mine? You can be against the wall then.” She suggested, and the boy looked a bit startled at being called out but otherwise nodded his head and rushed to move his chair next to the wall. Pepper was sat on a salon chair waiting for the lady to come back, and watched with a smile as the teen sighed in relief at having the room in full view now and pulled his knees up on the chair to balance the book on them.

Not long after, the salon lady came back and asked Pepper what colour she’d like, and Pepper turned to Peter who’d been her fashion adviser today and hadn’t yet failed her. Peter pointed at a maroon red one and Pepper applauded his decision. Ten minutes in, the boy had grown tired. Which was fair as it had been a long day and Peter hadn’t slept last night. What Pepper had not expected however, was for Peter to doze off and lean his head against Pepper’s arm. The woman had looked down at him in shock, barely containing a happy laugh and resolving to keep that arm completely still no matter what cost so as to not wake him.

“Your son’s pretty cute.” The lady doing her nails said, smiling at the teen.

“He’s not my-” son, she proceeded to say, before pausing and saying, “yes, he is a sweetie.”

Peter woke up from his little catnap five minutes later, slowly and with a yawn at first before startlingly jolting up in his chair and off of Pepper, horrified at himself for leaning on her.

The woman chose not to say anything, and just smiled sadly at the teen before leaving him to it. Peter opened his book, becoming adamant on not falling asleep in an unsafe place again.

She was finished not twenty minutes later, and Peter gave her a thumbs up and a smile when she asked him what he thought of her nails. They then stopped at a pretty little baby boutique and Peter happily picked some outfits for Morgan with her. Out of stuff to do, Pepper was about to suggest they head back to the car when they came across it. A pretty cool looking shop called Our Mortal Realm which seemed to be entirely Sci-fi based. After what Tony had told her this morning, it was pretty much a no brainer that Pepper suggest they go in there. Which had ended up being her best idea so far.

Peter had looked around at everything in awe, picking up pretty much everything from the shelves to fiddle around with and then put back down when he saw something even cooler.

“Now you get whatever you want, remember, it’s your money.” She said for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Absolutely amazingly, he actually seemed to trust her words this time, and didn’t have much of a problem picking up things he wanted. He did still show her first, to make sure it was okay before buying it, but other than that it was wonderful to just watch him prance around the shop excitedly.

That had been where Peter spent most of his money, and he’d walked out of the shopping mall with a light up UFO pen, a Darth Vader pop figurine, a new notebook with a bunch of different sciencey drawings on the cover, and another shirt which showed two atoms, one of which was saying ‘I lost an electron’ and the other ‘are you positive?’.

All in all, it had been a successful trip, and as she watched Peter practically skip towards the car she had but two thoughts.

She wanted to keep Peter too, and god damn-it Anthony.

~~~~~

When they got to the car, Tony was already in it and had Morgan on his lap. The two stared talking about what they did with the two kids, and Peter shyly showed Tony his new shirts when he asked to see them. Apparently he had a similar humour to Peter, as he snorted when he read them too. Soon Morgan was put back into her car seat and the four of them headed back home, the quietness a lot less tense and much more comfortable than it had been on the way there.

Of course, something had to go wrong, and when Tony pulled towards the house they were surprised- not shocked, really they should have been expecting this- to see a quinjet landed outside the house. Which could only mean one thing.

“Shit!”

Chapter Text

Peter was fighting sleep tooth and nail on the ride back, but it was hard to do after the long day he’d already had, and the soothing white noise and motion of the car.

He was absolutely adamant on staying awake though. Awake until he was in a safe place and could tend to himself if he had another horrible nightmare. So, he took to watching Morgan, and smiling tiredly at her when she looked up at him too.

“Ga-ba mmm.” She gurgled, a bubble of spit forming in the corner of her lip. Peter went to wipe it with his sleeve and when he did he watched as her eyes widened as though in shock and her head tilted to follow his hand, mouth opening as though ready to eat it before moving into a big yawn. Peter giggled quietly, putting his hand in front of his mouth as he did so as to hide it.

For a newborn, she had, like, a really thick head of dark hair. And it was sticking up this way and that, and Peter really wanted to run his hand through it and sweep it to the side, but he refrained. Morgan continued watching him, blowing more spit bubbles and making small cooing noises, almost going cross eyed trying to see what the popping sound that came from her mouth was.

Peter could feel the fight against sleep beginning to fail, but he was startled back into wakefulness by a sudden yell.

“Shit!”

Peter jolted up at the curse, eyes gluing onto the man just to see his clenched hands on the steering wheel, and tense jawline. Oh no. He’s angry. What did you do? What happened? You must have done something. Oh god, oh god, oh god. What the fuck did you do!?

Breathing in shudderingly and pressing himself as far back into the seat as possible- he couldn’t go anywhere, he couldn’t get away, he was trapped in a car- he looked out of the window for surroundings and possible witnesses or escape routes. He recognised the now familiar road trail up to the cabin, surrounded by trees, which at first gave him more terror, as, if they were away from people no one could stop them from hurting him, there wasn’t even any other houses around to hear if he screamed, until his thoughts were utterly captivated by the massive aircraft he saw as they drove closer and the trees no longer blocked his view.

That… that hadn’t been there before, had it? He rubbed at his tired eyes with his fist, just to double check he wasn’t seeing things. His eye sight had never been great (he’d use to have glasses but lost them about a year ago).

The car pulled to a stop, and for a moment they all sat in absolute silence, Pepper and Tony turning to face each other with not quite distinguishable looks on their faces- dread, dread certainly seemed to be a component.

Peter scrunched his brows up as he watched them, utterly confused about what was going on.

“Did they say they were coming?” Pepper eventually asked Tony, voice quiet in a sort of calm before the storm way.

Who’s they? Peter wondered, his anxiety tripling at the thought of being around other people. People who must be important, considering the fact that they arrived in a friggin aircraft. Whenever the Carsons invited round other people, they were always just as horrible as them and it never ever ended well for him.

“If they did I don’t remember it.”

“Well think, Tony.” She snapped, the panic building into her, but she made herself calm down when she noticed Peter shrink back. Things had been going so well with Peter today, and it wasn’t that she didn’t want to introduce everyone to Morgan, because she really did, but she knew they just couldn’t do it while Peter was there. Both Tony and Pepper had agreed to wait until after Peter had left, which, was taking longer than they’d originally thought it would, not that they minded, but they assumed he’d be somewhere else in a few days and they could invite everyone then. They’d offered no explanation to the team about why they couldn’t come, they didn’t know about Peter, so she guessed they’d just run out of patience and come to surprise them.

How the hell were they going to explain this?

Tony sighed, before turning in his seat to look at Peter, smiling at him despite wanting to scream at the fear clouding the boy’s face. “Kid, I’m sorry, but there’s some people here to meet Morgan. We didn’t know they were coming.”

Peter just blinked at him in response, he’d gathered that someone was there, but he didn’t know why Tony was sorry for it. Were they bad people?

“They’ll only be here for an hour or two to meet her, but if you want we can tell them to leave. I swear it’s no problem.” Tony really, really wanted to show his daughter off to everyone, to brag about her and say ‘This is my daughter! Look how amazing she is!’ and he especially wanted to introduce her to Rhodey and Bruce, who he hoped were in there. But he’d put it on hold for a later date if they were going to scare the kid.

Peter’s confusion grew as he listened to the man. Why were they asking him if it was okay? It’s there house. He didn’t give him any sort of reply, but continued staring at him confusedly. Tony huffed and turned back to Pepper, the adults apparently trying to have a conversation without words.

“I’m gonna get the stuff out of the back.” Tony, out of the blue, excused himself, getting out of the car before anyone could object.

Alone in the car, Pepper smiled at Peter in the overhead mirror, and the boy forced a strained one back. He was nervous, wondering what was going to happen next. He didn’t feel safe anymore, he felt open and vulnerable and really wanted to be locked up in his room now. And he hated that he was thinking of it as his room and that he took such comfort in it. He wouldn’t be able to have it as a safe space for much longer, as he was leaving soon, so he shouldn’t grow attached.

But maybe, if you’re really, really good, they’ll let you stay? A timid voice queried in the back of his head, a voice that sounded oddly like a younger, more hopeful- not yet completely corrupted- him. Peter ignored it and turned his head to pout out of the window. He knew it was childish of him, but he didn’t want to have to share Tony, Pepper and Morgan with these new people who were here. People whom he had no clue about, what they were capable of, or what threats they held. He’d grown quite accustomed to Tony and Pepper, and had memorised and studied how they moved and behaved, and noted what threats they held and how they could hurt him, and until the point that they did hurt him came to be, he was quite content to continue living in this bound to be short facade of happiness and safety he’d found himself in.

And if he was around other people, around their friends, he’d be more likely to get himself into trouble and upset them, would he not? What if he embarrassed them. Not only that, but what about Morgan? Tony said these people wanted to meet her, so if they hadn’t yet been around the baby how could he be sure they wouldn’t hurt her? No, Tony and Pepper had promised they wouldn’t hurt Morgan and he believed them. But would they let their friends hurt her?

“What’s going on in that head of yours, sweetie?” Pepper asked, and not just to catch his attention from whatever horrible thoughts had to be running around in that beautiful head of his, but because she genuinely wanted to know, despite knowing he wouldn’t answer. He was a complete enigma to them and she wanted in.

She saw Peter’s big brown eyes meet hers in the mirror. You could literally see the raw pain in them and Pepper just wanted to take it all away. It wasn’t fair. He was too young to have been through so much, seen so much. And was she crazy in thinking that his eyes looked exactly like Tony’s did when he was suppressing his emotions? It was as though she was looking at an exact copy, and it only made her feel all the more protective and responsible for the boy.

“No one’s going to hurt you, Peter. Not us, not whoever’s in there; both me and Tony care about you and so long as you’re here we won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Peter bit on his lower lip to stop it wobbling, looking down and scrunching his eyes closed. He wanted to believe her so badly. He wanted to feel something other than fear all the goddamn time, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he needed someone to help him, someone to lean on, because he constantly felt like he’d just collapse on his own. But it was already too late for him. He was already too dirtied, too broken.

Pepper wished she knew who exactly had come over so she could better assure the boy and let him know what to expect. “If you want us to get rid of them right now, then we will, but if not you don’t even have to look at them. You can go to your room until they’re gone if you want to, and that’s okay. We just want you to feel safe. So what do you say, do you wanna give it a shot?” She wasn’t at all expecting him to stay downstairs with them, but she wanted to make sure that Peter knew that it was alright for him to go upstairs and that they wouldn’t be mad. She just hoped she hadn’t phrased it so that Peter thought they wanted him out of the way.

Peter couldn’t tell if this was a test or not, if she was trying to see how selfish or petty he was, but even if it wasn’t, there was still only one correct answer, much to his dismay. He nodded his head, eyes cast down to ignore the redhead’s piercing gaze.

He startled when Pepper touched his hand, blinking at her in shock. Pepper smiled at him, rubbing soothing circles on his hand with her thumb, and Peter, despite himself, started to relax.

Pepper looked to see where Tony had gone, but couldn’t see him. She hoped he hadn’t wondered off, but was relieved when she saw him walk out of the front door, having gone to see who was there.

And hopefully inform them about Peter, right?

She watched as her husband walked back over to the car, twisting in her seat to face the front again after giving Peter’s hand a reassuring squeeze. Tony opened the back car door by Morgan and began unbuckling her, deciding to just leave the carseat in the car. “Are you alright to come in, Pete?” He asked while picking her up. Pepper had just gotten out of the car, leaving the teen sat in it on his own. Peter nodded his head and hurriedly undid his seat belt, not wanting to seem awkward sat alone in the car. He didn’t want them to think he seemed hesitant or moody about being around their friends either, that would be rude.

They walked over to the house, Peter shuffling behind shyly. Pepper slowed down to wait for him at the bottom of the steps with a smile, and Peter again forced himself to give her one back. In his head, he couldn’t tell if her smile had malicious intent behind it or not. Sarah Carson had acted so sweet with him in the beginning too, to a point where he hadn’t even noticed the spiteful glint in her eyes and smirk in her smile- too desperate for comfort and affection after what Carson had done to him for the first time a few days prior- as she led him to a room where her husband and a few of his friends were waiting, knowing full well what would happen to the teen that was in her care.

The parallels between then and now made his legs want to give out, but he somehow kept moving. Tony turned around in front of the door to look at him, and Peter violently flinched back as he turned, stumbling away a few steps, expecting to be swung at.

Tony’s eyes widened when he saw how much he’d scared Peter with his sudden movement, having forgotten to move slowly in his nervousness about Peter seeing everyone.

“Are you ready?” Tony asked the boy, deciding not to comment on it because he simply didn’t know what to say.

Peter bit his lip hard, cheeks flushed red for overreacting just, and nodded. He wasn’t at all ready and he caught eyes with Morgan who was being held on Tony’s shoulder. He didn’t like how she had no idea about what was going on and what she was walking into, thus having no choice, but at the same time he envied that naivety. She was still drooling and cooing, now with her hand in her mouth, and looking directly at Peter.

Peter silently made a promise that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. And that if it came down to it he’d take all the kicks and punches in the world to keep her safe, because the world just simply wasn’t a fair and safe place for kids and he wouldn’t let it take advantage of this little baby like it had him.

Tony opened the door and stepped in and immediately was surrounded by a hoard of people. More than Peter had thought there’d be. About five people were cooing at the little babe resting on Tony, standing far too close to her for Peter’s liking but he was much too paralysed in fear to do anything about it.

“There she is!”

“Aww, she’s adorable!”

“She looks much smaller than on the picture.”

“Congratulations!”

Everyone was too busy fixating on the infant that they hadn’t yet noticed the teen. Well, most of them hadn’t. There was a man with longish dark hair and steely blue eyes stood awkwardly to the side of the room, as though he didn’t feel like he belonged there- which Peter could sympathise with- and a woman with red hair like Pepper’s, who was eyeing him critically, face otherwise expressionless.

“Who are you?” The woman said, capturing everyone’s attention and bringing the room down into silence as everyone stared at him in confusion. A blond, extremely large, man stepped towards him, and Peter couldn’t help but whimper and dive behind Tony, instinctively feeling safer with him then this incredibly muscular and intimidating stranger who’d just came towards him.

Tony was more than surprised when the teen chose him to hide behind, but that was soon replaced with an overwhelming need to protect, despite logically knowing the boy was in no real danger. Taking a shot in the dark, he reached behind him and put a hand on the boy’s arm, still keeping his body in front of the teen as a barrier to him and the others.

“You didn’t tell them!?” Pepper cried, she’d been so sure that that was what he’d been doing while they were in the car.  

“Umm…” Tony had meant to do that, but hadn’t known how to phrase it and had instead just ended up changing topic and getting sarcastically defensive when Rhodey said he was going to run out and get Morgan himself if he didn’t hurry up, so Tony had told them to wait there and that he was going to get her and a ‘surprise bonus’.

“Hey, kid, no need to hide.” Steve said, not understanding why there was an eleven year old child (the age incorrectly judged on the boy’s size) hiding behind Tony. He was always careful around kids, not wanting to scare them with how big he was as he knew first hand how easy it was to feel intimidated and backed into a corner by someone so much taller than you.

“Who is that, Tony? Is he the surprise?” Bruce asked, he’d stayed quiet this far, observing the boy from a distance. Peter’s heart lurched at realising they hadn’t told anyone about him. They’re ashamed of you, they hate you, they don’t want anyone to know about you. It shouldn’t have hurt so much for their dislike towards him to be confirmed, but it did, despite everything it still hurt when his carers didn’t like him.

“Everyone, this is Peter. He’s staying with us for a little while whilst his social worker finds him a nice place to live.” Tony said, wishing he’d done it before hand now. At least then he could have told them all to be careful around the teen. Oh how he wishes.

“Wow, you two must be crazy taking in another kid after just having a baby and moving house.” Clint chuckles, and it was meant as a joke, a poorly thought out joke, but the intent didn’t matter when the words hit Peter like a slap to the face, leaving his eyes watery and his heart thundering.

You’re a burden, nobody wants you here, you were stupid thinking that they did. Waste of space.

With a half contained sob, he ran for it to the stairs, not stopping to look back at the baby he’d promised to stay and protect. He was failing at that too.

Natasha slapped Clint around the head, an angry look on her face, and Pepper wanted to thank her because she had been about to do something worse to him.

“Idiot.” Pepper grumbled, immediately going to follow after the teenager. “Peter!” She called after him as she went, hearing his door slam shut half way up the stairs.  

“Sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset him!” Clint exclaimed, rubbing at the back of his head. He wasn’t all too sure what he’d said wrong but he knew from Natasha’s glare and the boy running away that he must’ve done something.

Everyone was watching in shock, understanding why that hadn’t been the best thing to say in front of the kid but not having expected such a rash reaction. They looked at Tony for answers who was shifting from foot to foot. “He’s shy.” He eventually said in lieu of explanation, it just didn’t feel right to go sharing personal information about the teen to people Peter didn’t know and would probably only ever see once. If Tony did that he was as bad as Chase.

Morgan gurgled in what could have been agreement, but it sounded much more like she was telling Clint off, since she was looking towards him from where Tony held her facing everyone. 

Everyone chuckled, and Tony smiled weakly with them. He hoped Peter was okay.

Chapter Text

Pepper went over to Peter’s bedroom and reached for the door handle, expecting it to be firmly locked and not at all for the door to actually push open. Allowing herself just a moment to be surprised, she straightened up when she heard the teen’s whimpering and harsh breaths on the other side. She went in and her heart broke to see the state the boy was in.

“Aww, sweetheart.” She cooed, getting to the floor on her knees so she didn’t scare him.

Peter was pressed into the corner of the room, behind some of the piles of boxes that were still pushed against the walls, as though hoping to be hidden. His knees were drawn up to his chest and his body was shaking every few seconds. She couldn’t see his face but she was going to assume he was crying since his hand kept reaching up to rub at his cheeks.

“It’s okay. Everything’s all right.” She hushed meaninglessly. Everything was hardly alright. “Did what Clint say upset you? Because if so you pay him no notice, he’s just a dumb birdbrain who doesn’t know what he’s talking about- we are so happy to have you here with us.” She added sincerely, at first she may have been against the idea of having a random teenager stay for the night with everything else going on, and she was completely exhausted- emotionally, if anything- but despite everything she wouldn’t change it.

Peter couldn’t bare to listen to her, assuming she was lying just to spare his feelings out of pity. He decided to just shrug in response, an answer that probably didn’t make the most sense but it seemed right.

Pepper stayed quiet and Peter could hear her shuffling around until she was sat next to him. Too busy straining his hearing to listen to what she was doing, he’d stopped crying, but when Pepper placed a hand on his back he flinched violently, breathing picking up again. She was rubbing his back up and down, and it kind of hurt thanks to all of the bruises and partially healed belt marks there, but not enough to make him pull away from the comforting touch. He was too frozen scared to move anyway.

‘Maybe you like the pain, you dumb slut’

“Do you wanna stay up here until they’re gone?” She asked after a while, and Peter had lifted his head up to rest on top of his knees instead of hiding in them. He blinked at her unsurely, not knowing what she wanted him to say. He did want to stay hidden up there, and she probably wanted him out of the way of her friends too, so he nodded his head. “Okay, that’s completely fine, sweetie. D’you want me to tell you about everyone just incase you do decide to go back down?” She’d seen the way he analysed her and Tony over the past few days, carefully cataloguing each of their movements and quirks and keeping in mind how far away they were and how many steps it would take for them to get to him. It was a well informed guess that Peter would like to know just who was down the stairs from him.

The teen nodded, hoping that a bit of information on them would make him feel even the slightest bit less sick.

“Well, they were all part of the Avengers, but don’t let that scare you. Most of them are just big softies with an intolerance for bad guys, which you aren’t. There’s Clint, or ‘Hawkeye’, he’s the one who, uhh, who spoke to you. He didn’t mean what he said, he just wasn’t thinking. Steve is the man who walked over to you. I know he looks really big and scary, but I promise you he’d never hurt someone unless he had no choice. Neither will any of the others. There’s also Natasha, the woman you saw. Bruce Banner, who Tony actually mentioned to you earlier, didn’t he? And there’s Rhodey, and who else… Oh, Barnes.” She finished, with a little grimace. She didn’t blame Barnes for what he did, not after she got the real story not just the one Tony had spewed when his mind was still clouded in anger at what happened to his mother, and she blamed him even less so when the man helped in the fight against Thanos. He’d proven his innocence and more than payed his due, and Tony had come to see that aswell and settled for a begrudging truce with the man. This of course didn’t mean Tony wanted to see the man outside of the field however, and it was clear that Barnes was uncomfortable being there too if the withdrawn look and tense posture earlier was anything to go by. Pepper just hoped that nothing would happen between the two of them today for the sake of Peter and the hopefully happy event of introducing their daughter to everyone.

Hearing the list of names of some of the most famous Avengers and superheroes out there, Peter’s eyes widened significantly. Friggin Captain America had spoken to him. How cool was that?

Pepper watched as the teen’s tears stopped and hiccups died down, he was still trembling every now and then but other than that he had calmed down. She could hear everyone talking and laughing downstairs, and could see how Peter squeezed his eyes closed and pushed against the wall every time someone was especially loud, as though he had a horrible headache. But she knew that wasn’t the real reason. She should go close the door to block out some of the voices that were stressing Peter out, despite them being distant, but if she was getting up she didn’t know if she should stay here with the teen or go downstairs to leave him to calm down. She really wanted to see her daughter meet her (not yet proclaimed) godfather for the first time and make sure everything was going alright, but she didn’t want to leave Peter if he was upset and wanted her to stay- which she doubted.

She continued rubbing his back, absolutely overjoyed at the fact that he was letting her and was even relaxing his tense muscles after a while. Peter’s eyes were staying closed now, as he savoured the feeling of her warm hand. He did have to fight to hold in a wince though, every time she went over that particular spot where he had a healing lash mark and the friction of his shirt rubbing against it made him worry if it was going to reopen and start bleeding again. Nevertheless, the warmth he felt didn’t last very long, as she pulled her hand away thus ending the first bit of positive affection he’d had in years. He wanted to whine, to arch his back into her hand, because no, wait! Come back! He wanted to be held and comforted and told everything would be alright, first! But it was too late, she was already standing up with a soft smile at him, unaware of what he really wanted- what he needed. 

“Why don’t you lie down in bed for a bit, sweetie. You can come get us whenever you want, I promise you’re safe here.” She was stood in the doorway now, handle in her hand ready to close it as she left, and Peter felt like crying again. He didn’t want her to go; he wanted her to stay. And he hated himself for getting so attached to someone already. He was always oversensitive and clingy, and that’s what always got him hurt. Even if she didn’t decide to do a full one-eighty on him and suddenly start spewing her hatred towards him and shunning him out, he’d have to leave here eventually and that would sting just as much.

Shoving all of these bottles of emotions down, deep down where they couldn’t be smashed or broken, he nodded in agreement and stood up as though to go do that, standing with his head bowed down and hands behind his back in a submissive pose. He needed to wait for her to go so he could lock the door if he was going to dare get into bed with the amount of strange, strong men just downstairs.

“Try get some sleep please, honey. You look exhausted.” She said not unkindly, before pulling the door closed with a brief “sweet dreams.”

Peter was exhausted. Next to dead on his feet, but he was far too anxious to sleep. Anxious about what could happen to him whilst he was unconscious, and anxious about the memories that plagued him every time he closed his eyes. So instead he lay down on the floor, hoping it would make him uncomfortable enough to stay awake (comfort was a luxury anyways). It did the trick, as he felt each bruise and his broken bone throb at the hard pressure.

Lying on the floor, he stared up at the white ceiling for a bit, something he usually did when he wanted to space out and detach from whatever was going on around- or on- him. Looking at cracks or marks and thinking about what they looked like, or cobwebs and wondering what happened to the spider that created them, as the strings blew back and forth in the draft. This ceiling however, had no cracks or webs to speak of. Nothing at all to look at other than the pristine white. The blinding white. The overwhelming white. The suffocating white of the hospital’s bleached halls as he was rolled in on a gurney. Staring at it for too long made it far too easy to get lost in his thoughts, which was not at all what he was trying to accomplish, so, he tilted his head to the side to try to find something else.

He took note of the pills still sitting on the dressing table, only two taken from each packet when he should have had a lot more of them by now. Guilt overwhelmed him, as he knew medicine wasn’t free, and that the Starks must have payed for it, but he wasn’t taking them. Most days he just couldn’t get himself to swallow the potentially toxic pills that were meant to help him. Worried that if he started swallowing them he wouldn’t stop. Those starch white halls still fresh in his mind from when he hadn’t stopped swallowing just a few short years ago, the halls that had been refreshed in his mind just this week.

He couldn’t take them, and he settled with him being in pain from not taking the prescribed painkillers as a suitable punishment for wasting the Starks money and time. He should probably get rid of the tablets soon though. If they see them and care enough to bring it up they might get angry with him.  

He couldn’t get himself to go do it now though, feeling almost paralysed by the grief that was attacking him out of nowhere for no valid reason. It just was there. He continued staring into a space, his chest aching in sadness that made him want to cry but he just couldn’t if that made sense. At the same time as feeling utterly miserable and isolated, he also felt numb. As though the emotions were there but he couldn’t get himself to respond or do anything about them. Couldn’t process them.

It felt like it took at least an hour for the tightness and aching in his chest to go away a bit, just enough to allow him to breathe, but in reality it was probably only ten minutes. When he could finally breathe without wanting to sob, he sat himself up and leaned his back against the wall, fiddling with his hands for a while as a few tears fell from the corners of his eyes. Not long ago the sound of voices were too much to handle, setting his anxiety off and making him want to hide in a dark hole. But now that he was in that dark hole, safe but entirely desolate and drowning in the silence and his own loneliness, some part of him yearned to climb out and search for a voice, a light, something to distract him from the heartache he felt.

He’d promised Morgan he’d stay with her. And he really wanted to keep that promise.

And so, with great struggle, he climbed out of the hole.

~~~~~

When Pepper came downstairs she could hear laughter coming from the living room as her husband told everyone about how Happy had refused to drive over ten miles an hour on the way back from the hospital with Morgan, and that he’d caused a mile long traffic jam as a result. The lighthearted chatter did a bit to boost her mood and lessen her worry for Peter, as she plastered on a smile and walked into the room.

Tony immediately looked over to her, the silent question of ‘is he alright?’ clear on his face. Pepper just nodded, sitting on the arm of the chair Tony was sat on to lean into his ear and whisper “just a bit shook up.” Before pulling away to look around at the rest of the room. She smiled a real smile when she saw her daughter all snuggled up in Rhodes’ arms, cooing contently.

“Ahh, man, I was so jealous when Hogan sent me pictures of him holding her. He’s been literally taunting me with them, I ended up blocking him.” Rhodey chuckled, glad he’d finally gotten to meet his best friend- no, his brother’s daughter.

Tony laughed at that, he could imagine Happy had been a right pain in Rhodey’s ass about being the only one to have met Morgan. Well, why not give Rhodey something to brag about too?

“Well Happy’s not the one Morgan’s gonna love as a Godfather, now is he?” He said, smirking as his best friend’s face froze in shock.

He and Pepper had discussed at length- ok, maybe not such great length- who they wanted to be Morgan’s godparent. It was a no brainer that that title would go to Tony’s life long best friend (or BFF, if he were going to be more juvenile).

“Are you serious?” He choked out. As a military man, Rhodey was away a lot. And so he hadn’t at all expected to win such a title at home. A title much bigger and fulfilling than Colonel could ever be.

“Who else would I pick, honey bear? You and I have been lovebirds for even longer than me and Pep.” He teased, all the mushiness too much for him to deal with but Rhodey could see how much this actually meant to him in his eyes.

Rhodey didn’t know how to respond, didn’t know how to express just how much this meant to him, before he realised that Tony already knew. “Thank you, I’m honoured.” He settled for, smiling at the little baby in his arms. His godchild.

“No problem. Don’t let the other mobs get her, Corleone.” Tony joked, referencing the movie ‘The Godfather’. A few chuckles went around the room, except from Barnes who just looked confused.

“I don’t get it.” He mumbled to Steve, frowning when the blond beamed in return, delighted that it wasn’t him in the dark for once.

With a big groan Steve wrapped his arm over Bucky’s shoulder, before saying with a big grin, “Don’t worry, Buck. I’ll explain it to you later.”

This led to more laughs and a few reminiscent smiles of the ‘golden years’ of the Avengers. When it was just the original six of them all in the tower together. They wished Thor was there too, but after what happened to Loki and Asgard really sunk in no one had seen him.

Rhodey held Morgan for a while longer, until Bruce got impatient and stood up to take her saying, “She may be your godchild, but she’s still my niece.”

After that Morgan was passed around from person to person, absolutely thriving under all of the attention she was receiving, and making loud noises of objection whenever the conversation strayed too far away from her or if she didn’t have the person holding her’s full attention.

Tony and Pepper watched their daughter closely, knowing she was safe but still feeling on edge at seeing their baby held by other people for the first time, looking for any signs of distress. None were shown, she was absolutely loving the freedom from her parents and meeting other people.

And people said Tony was the attention whore.

Pepper irrationally felt herself tear up at not being missed by her baby, she knew she was just being hormonal but the idea of Morgan liking other people more than her made her want to cry. Nevertheless she couldn’t help but chuckle when the baby squawked in objection at Natasha (the person who was currently holding her) talking to Clint instead of her.

Natasha looked back down at the baby with an upturned smile. “Oh I’m sorry, красивая. Were you saying something?”

The baby continued making mumbled noises, as though grumbling ‘Can you believe this woman?’.

Soon after that Steve wanted to hold her, and after getting a terrifying glare from Natasha when he tried to take her, she placed a kiss on the baby’s head before begrudgingly passing her on.

Once she was settled on Steve’s chest, Tony started to understand Pepper’s feeling of jealousy as he saw that his baby looked just as comfortable lying on Steve’s chest as she did on his.

Wow, being parents really did make you crazy.

It was at that moment, admist the light conversation of who everyone thought Morgan looked the most like, that the small figure of a teenage boy quietly crept into the room, hugging himself protectively.

Everyone went silent as they looked at him, Tony and Pepper sitting forward in their seats to stand up if the boy indicated that he needed them. It was clear the teen had been crying his eyes out, and he looked utterly miserable. Everyone other than Pepper and Tony looked incredibly confused at the distraught and silent teen.

Peter froze at the door, suddenly regretting coming down there when he felt everyone’s eyes on him. Keeping his head down but eyes glancing up, he breathed out in relief when he caught sight of Morgan. Completely safe and unharmed in the arms of Captain America. Said baby was flickering her eyes to the side in the direction of Peter, trying to see him but not yet able to move her head to look around.

Peter remained stock still, debating whether to turn back around and run upstairs now that he knew Morgan was okay.

The idea of going back upstairs and being safe but isolated made him feel lightheaded. He didn’t want to be alone again. And he most certainly didn’t want to be scared anymore. And so, he quickly walked forward in the direct direction of where Pepper was sat and lowered himself down to the floor by her legs. Out of easy reach of the strangers so that they’d have to stand up to get him, and he could run away in that time.

He’d have to be really good if he was staying down there. And really quiet too so as to not draw attention to himself. Hopefully they’d all just forget he was even there and he could watch after Morgan in safety. Everyone was still staring at him however, and he shrank into himself self-consciously.“No, she definitely has your side profile, Stark.” Natasha said as she looked over at the baby, as though Peter hadn’t even walked into the room. It wasn’t hard for her to tell that the boy was uncomfortable and anxious with them all looking at him, and she could also tell that he very much wouldn’t appreciate being questioned on the tear tracks staining his face or if he was alright, so she decided to just take the attention away from him completely.

There was a scatter of agreements, as the conversation of who she looked like began again.

Peter calmed down a bit then. Well, as calm as he could be in a room full of strong trained soldiers. He didn’t see the look of worry Tony and Pepper shared behind him, but he did jump when he felt a hand on his back, before realising that Pepper was rubbing his back again. He liked it when she did that, it was reassuring.

“You’re right, but she doesn’t have his nose though. Luckily.” Clint said, and Tony scoffed in offence. He didn’t really mind though, his wife was beautiful and his daughter was beautiful. She could look nothing like him or exactly like him and he’d still be happy.

“She’s already got your hair too, Tones.” Rhodey added. “And Pepper’s chin.”

“I wonder what colour eyes she’ll have.” Bruce wondered out loud, right now they were a gorgeous powder blue, as per routine with newborns, but it would be interesting to see if they’d stay similar to that but shift into a deeper blue like Pepper’s, or darken into a brown like Tony’s.

The conversation stayed like that for a while longer, before changing into one about the new house. It was so very different to where Tony would usually live, since he was all modern and minimalist (apart from in the workshop) with large windows and cold marble floors. So it was clear that Pepper had picked the place and aesthetic. It was nice, perfect for a family and cosy (even with most of the stuff still in boxes). It was far homier than the mansion or the tower had ever been.

“Oh, we brought her some presents! Bucky, take her off of me a second.” Steve said, moving to pass her over.

Bucky hadn’t yet held the baby, and hadn’t planned to either. Not only was there the issue of him not knowing how to hold a baby, but there was also the fact that the baby had a very protective father who he was pretty sure still hated him, and he had a metal arm that surely wouldn’t feel good for the baby to lie on. He didn’t want to hurt her.

Despite going to object, before he could do anything Steve had already passed him the small infant and was standing up to go outside and get the presents they’d bought. Morgan was now in a sitting up position on his knee, his none-metal arm holding her back resulting in her head lolling backwards. Tony had been prepared to stand up and grab his daughter for the past ten minutes, and now seemed like the time because she could break her neck like that but just as he was about to he was beat to the punch.

“H-hold her h-head!”

Everyone’s eyes snapped to the side at the yelled demand, Pepper and Tony’s jaws dropping when they saw who was behind it.

Peter’s eyes widened in horror at what he’d just done, falling back from his kneeling position to practically dissolve into the floor. His face paled drastically as the mortification set in that he’d just yelled at an adult, yelled at one of their friends.

Pepper and Tony were in shock too, this was the first time they’d heard Peter speak when he wasn’t either running out of the door or delirious in nightmare filled sleep. And it hadn’t even been a quiet mumble, he’d full on snapped at someone with conviction all because he was worried about Morgan.

Pepper’s hand stopped rubbing at the boy’s back in her surprise, and she felt him stiffen up dramatically.

Bucky’s eyes widened and he recoiled back at hearing that he was holding her wrong, as he went to correct it by lying her whole body down on his lap so she was completely supported. “I’m sorry.” Bucky said quietly, flinching when the infant let out a horrible cry at the tension in the room. He of course immediately thought he’d done something wrong so passed her on to the closest person to him, which happened to be Clint, before getting up to follow Steve outside who was still stood at the door.

Peter felt horrible, he knew he’d be getting into a lot of trouble for speaking out of turn but he didn’t think he’d upset anyone. Why did he have to open his damn stupid mouth? People like him were supposed to be seen not heard. It didn’t look like the Starks were going to punish him while everyone was still there though, so that was something to look forward too when they left. He’d gotten himself into some deep shit.

Pepper could see that the boy was about to break into a nervous breakdown, his chest heaving and eyes watery, so she reached for his hand. Peter snapped his away at first thinking she was going to grab him and hurt him, falling back onto the floor to get away. But when she reached for his hand again and started rubbing her thumb over his knuckles, he stared up at her in wonder, confused at where the punishment was meant to be. He studied her face for any sign of bad intent but couldn’t see any. She just looked sad.

Sad that they had to hurt him now? Did she not want to? Why did he always have to mess up, always left people with no choice but to punish him, Pepper didn’t even want to but now he was forcing her hand, leaving her with no other option. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at Tony, because surely he’d be furious.

For the rest of the time they were there, Peter stayed completely silent and resolved to not move a single muscle. The only movement he made was the shuddery intake of breaths that he tried his best to keep quiet. It was like he was a cornered animal, trying to remain hidden and waiting for the claws to swipe. He didn’t even respond when one of the people spoke to him, apologising for not bringing him anything as they handed Morgan’s presents to Pepper to open. Saying that they would have if they’d known he’d be there. That confused Peter, why would they get him anything?

He’d stayed completely still for the next hour or so, calming a bit as he thought they’d forgotten he was there. But then came the dreadful ‘it’s about time to go’ and his stomach dropped to the floor. As he watched everyone leave, some of them saying goodbye to him and one trying to ruffle his hair (he ducked out of the way of course) he fought the urge to be sick.

Soon he’d be alone with the Starks, and they were sure to have something to say about his little mouthing off earlier.

As he watched Pepper and Tony wave everyone off before turning back around and shutting the door, Peter scrambled to his knees and clasped his hands together in a begging position.

The two adults stared down at him in confusion, but sobered when they heard the heartbreaking words that came out of the teen’s mouth next.

“P-please. I-I’m so s-sorry.” He whimpered, voice scratchy from lack of use and eyes wide and tearful. He wasn’t sure if it was the right choice to be speaking in apology, or if he was just digging himself into a deeper hole. But he’d already started now so there was no going back. “I-I’ll b-be better.”

“Kid,” Tony gasped out, still amazed that the teen was actually talking to them but devastated that he was so upset. Was this because he’d spoken to Bucky? Kneeling down on the floor in-front of him, he tried to reach for the boy’s hand like he’d seen Pepper do, but that gesture was much less appreciated coming from him and the teen flung himself back with a sob. Landing on his bad arm and making the adults flinch.

Peter curled into a ball, protecting his head with his hands.

“‘M sorry, ‘m r-really so-sorry, Mr St-Stark.” He cried almost incomprehensibly.

Tony wasn’t going to risk reaching for the teen again, fighting the urge to grab the boy’s hands which were currently pulling harshly at his own hair. “Peter, you didn’t do anything wrong. Can you tell me what you’re apologising for?” He wanted to keep the kid talking, didn’t want him to shut down again, because despite all of the crying this had to be progress. He was speaking.

“Y-you’ve be-een s-so k-kind to m-me.” He choked, hands still tugging at his hair as he lay curled on the floor. Tony was confused as to why them being nice to him had the kid so upset. “A-an-nd I w-was r-rude to one of y-your f-frien-nds.”

“You did nothing wrong, sweetie. You were right to correct how he was holding her. She could have gotten hurt, so thank you.” Pepper cut in, she was stood up bouncing Morgan in her arms.

Peter was crying into his hands now, and Tony subconsciously reached over to rest his hand on the top of the boy’s hip. His head was screaming at him to either do something to comfort the boy or to just extract himself from the situation entirely, which is probably what he would have done a few years ago, but now he refused to let himself leave the poor kid. Touching him was the wrong move however as Peter screamed shrilly, biting down on his lip hard enough to draw a trickle of blood as he tried to stifle it.

“I’m sorry, Peter. I’m sorry, I’m not going to hurt you. You don’t deserve to be hurt.”

The teen froze up at that, eyes opening to blink at the wall opposite him with a resigned look. It was weird, how calm he’d suddenly gone.

“Yes I do.” He stated dully, and before either Pepper or Tony could respond he’d clambered to his feet to race upstairs, leaving Tony heartbroken in his trail.

~~~~~ TW SH ~~~~~

It wouldn’t stop bleeding.

Peter held his hand over his arm, trying to put pressure on it but it wouldn’t work- the sticky red liquid leaking thickly through his fingers. After getting upstairs, he’d worked himself up into a frenzy, breaking his skin too hard and too quickly with the improperly used razor.

The action had passed the point of giving him mild relief, and the usual tranquility he felt after cutting was instead replaced with worry as he saw the red puddle forming underneath where he held his arm, possibly staining the floor.

He hadn’t bled this much before.

He was sat cross legged next to the mattress, sleeves rolled up and holding his arm straight out in front of him. For a moment he debated whether to use one of his shirts or a hoodie to wrap around his arm, but he didn’t want to ruin any of them. Normally he wouldn’t have a problem with that but the Starks had bought those clothes especially for him, and he didn’t want to wreck them with his mess.

He pushed down harder on his arm, trying to get it to stop. Come on platelets, do your job and clot. He cried wretchedly when it only made it worse and a few drops fell onto his jeans. His hand looked like it had been involved in a murder scene, and his arm like it had been unsuccessfully amputated. He needed it to stop.

He used the wall to help himself to his feet, stumbling in surprise at how light headed he now felt. He should probably get some tissue from the bathroom, and he needed to wash off all of the blood on him before it dried and became harder to get off.

He’d have to be really quick though, incase Tony or Pepper found him. He didn’t want them to know just how pathetic he was.

Peaking his head around the bedroom door first, he quickly dragged his feet down the corridor, moving quicker when the blood started dripping onto the floor there too, leaving a trail. He’d have to clean it up on his way back.

In a rush, he skidded into the bathroom without looking first, regretting it as soon as he lifted his head. Because there, stood at the sink, was a very pale and shocked looking Tony.

“What the fuck, kid?!”

Chapter Text

“Peter, what did you do?” Tony repeated, approaching the trembling teen. He was fighting the urge to yell at the kid out of pure rage at the situation, he wanted to scream at him and shake him, because no, how could Peter do that to himself?  

The teen stepped back fearfully, and it wasn’t hard to notice the way he swayed unsteadily on his feet from even that small movement.  

“Come here.” He said, taking the kid’s arm and not letting him go despite the way the boy cried desperately and tried to pull away. He had to check the damage.  

It was bad, there were a lot of cuts going pretty deep into the teen’s arm, but Tony was relieved to see that there weren’t any on his wrists or by any other main veins.  

He was still fucking furious though. Mostly with himself, as now that he thought about it it had said in the medical report that there was suspected self harm, he should have been watching him closer.  He just hadn’t expected Peter to actually be hurting himself.  He hadn’t wanted to believe it.

It just wasn’t right. S ome people did deserve to be hurt, but Peter certainly wasn’t one of them. Peter should never have been hurt and neglected by the world enough to the point that he willingly brought himself pain.

As he looked at the self inflicted wounds, a product of just how cruel people could be, Tony wanted to murder someone. He was already likely going to hell what with the amount of lives he had taken, so what was a few more so he could drag every bastard who’d hurt the kid down with him?

Peter couldn’t bring himself to look at the man as he inspected his arm. He’d tried to get out of the hard grip, but Tony wouldn’t let him so he stopped out of fear as he waited for judgment. He kept his head down in shame, tears brimming. He didn’t know what sort of reaction to expect. Disgust? Anger? When Mr Carson had found out he cut he’d just laughed at him and called him pathetic, before using it as a reason to hurt him more, saying he liked it. He’d then dragged him into the living room to show Sarah Carson, who had just grimaced in disgust before telling him to clean up the mess.

He wasn’t sure which had been worse, both were embarrassing and hurtful.

“Sit down, I’m going to get something to wrap it up.” Tony sighed, moving the kid to sit on the closed toilet seat because he could tell the boy was light headed. Peter followed order and watched the man’s retreating figure. He buried his head in his hands, crying quietly to himself as he waited for Mr Stark to come back, wondering what would happen next.

Tony paused at the door, taking a deep breath to calm himself. It wasn’t fair to be angry at Peter, it wasn’t his fault for feeling the way he did. And people who hurt themselves weren’t in full control of when they did it most of the time, were they? It was an addiction.

He had to try to be understanding, and even if he didn’t get it then that was his problem not Peter’s. He shouldn’t begrudge the kid, it wasn’t his fault, even if the thought of Peter hurting himself angered him to no end.

He walked in and saw Peter look up at him before quickly changing his mind and looking back down, leg jerking in a nervous tick and body trembling.

“Can you stand up? We’ve gotta rinse it off first.”

Peter nodded, before dutifully stumbling to his feet, anything to please him. He waited as Tony washed his own hands thoroughly for orders on what to do next. He watched as the man put some stuff on the marble counter top next to the sink before turning around to look at him.

“Can you come stand over here?” Tony had left room in-front of the sink for Peter to clean himself up, and he was stood next to it to help him if he needed it. Peter shuffled over to him, still clutching his bleeding arm close to his chest protectively. Tony resisted the urge to help him because he looked like he’d topple over at any minute. Fortunately, the teen made it across the short distance alright, slumping against the sturdy surface upon arrival. It was then Tony noticed that it was the kid’s bad arm that had been cut, the one that was usually hidden in a sling, which led to the question of whether or not that was intentional so he could hide it easier. Sneaky bastard.

“Run it under some warm water and you can use that washcloth there and put this soap on it. Make sure to get all of the soap suds out and be gentle on the cuts, okay?” Tony had grabbed Pepper’s unopened Dove soap from their room, since he was pretty sure it was gentler on skin. Soap could be an irritant if not washed out properly so hopefully this one wouldn’t cause any irritation on the area.

Peter reached for the offered items, watching Tony carefully as he picked up each one and turned on the water for any sign that he was doing something he wasn’t allowed.

The first time he lightly dragged the wet washcloth over his arm, he grimaced at the sting, but that minor pain soon went away the second time. Black spots were dancing across his vision, he was finding it increasingly difficult to stand up straight, and he didn’t even notice that he had been falling back until he felt a big hand on his back and Tony’s muffled voice saying “whoa, easy there cowboy.”

Why did it sound like he was underwater?

He was horribly aware that the man was now stood behind him, close enough to feel the heat coming off of him, with his arms coming out from under Peter’s armpits to hold up his bleeding arm. A bit like a hug, which, maybe he would have enjoyed had Tony not been stood behind him. He had enough memories of men pressing up behind him (with much more sinister intents) to last a life time, thank you very much.

He tried to push himself away, but it didn’t last very long before he was stumbling back against the man, this time fully leaning into him. Peter’s head now rested against the man’s chest, it was warm and sturdy, the type you’d want to melt into. He didn’t have the body strength to stand up again, he was too tired, but luckily Tony leaned him forward so Peter was sort of leant against the sink whilst at the same time keeping a good grip on him.

The man held his arm under the tap for a little longer, making sure it was completely clean and that a minimal amount of blood still remained dripping. He then twisted the teen around and quickly picked him up to sit him on the counter, apologizing when Peter squeaked in fear.

Tony picked up the kid’s arm again, it was cold to the touch and hopefully was numb enough that Peter wouldn’t feel the cream he was about to apply very well. Using a towel, he lightly dried the arm up, not caring if it would stain the white cloth.

He took a deep breath to prepare himself to talk to the kid. He didn’t want to discuss what happened, but he knew he had to. He couldn’t just leave it like this, couldn’t let the kid think this was something unimportant. “What did you use to do this?”

Hopefully it was something clean, and something Tony could easily confiscate off the kid.

Peter’s mouth moved but no sound came out, and if Tony hadn’t known the context of the conversation he wouldn’t have been able to make out the word ‘razor’. Tony was confused at first, wondering where Peter would have gotten a razor from since he doubted the kid would steal one from him, before he remembered the wash bag he’d bought the boy. So it was his fault then, really. He’d supplied the teen with the means to do it. God fucking damn it, Anthony.

He didn’t know what he should do about that. Should he take it off the kid? Would that even help? What if it made it worse because Peter thought they didn’t trust him? He didn’t seem like the type to rebel, but he was still a teenager, it was in his blood. Would them trying to stop him from doing it make him want to do it more? And what should he do when the kid went to a new family, should Tony tell them? Surely it would be included in the kid’s official file, so they’d know anyways, which left a horrible feeling in Tony’s stomach because that sort of information shouldn’t just be getting given to anyone. To people Peter hadn’t even met so they could cast assumptions on the kid before even taking him in. That just wasn’t fair.

“I’m going to apply this antibiotic cream, it might sting a little, but it’ll stop infection.” Not that you seem to have a problem with your arm hurting. He wanted to say that, but he wasn’t that cruel. It wasn’t Peter’s fault.

He took Peter’s hand, the boy too tired to not go along with it, and lifted it up a bit to rub the cream over each cut in circular motions. “Do you… why do you do it? Does it… make you feel happier?” He wanted to understand. It was a coping mechanism wasn’t it? Like how Tony would lock himself in the workshop for days whenever he was going through shit, which, granted, wasn’t healthy either but he’d never intentionally caused physical harm to himself. Had never hurt himself just for the hell of it.

Peter shook his head, before leaning back against the cold tile wall. He was so tired, it was hard to even move anymore.

“Oh… Then, why?” He’d been under the assumption that cutting made people happier in some sort of twisted way, maybe because they thought they deserved it? That didn’t seem too far fetched for Peter, it wasn’t hard to tell that the kid was self destructive, and he had literally said earlier that he deserved to be hurt.

“M-makes me f’l nothin’.” He slurred in a groggy voice, only now he was completely exhausted allowing himself to open up a bit. How could he not? Being secretive and holding in emotions required way too much energy that he didn’t have. Tony already probably thought he was a sick freak anyways.

“You want to feel nothing?” That was a heartbreaking idea, that the boy was in such constant pain that he’d rather feel numb than continue living with his emotions.

Peter’s brows furrowed at that, and without a second thought he shook his head no. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to feel anything, because he did want to be happy, he just didn’t know if he could be anymore. Earlier today, when he and Tony had watched Star Wars together and he’d gotten to feed Morgan (and wow had that really only been this morning?) he’d been so close to happy, and again when he and Pepper had been at that cool sci-fi shop, he’d been close to happy. But he could never really get there without something bad happening. And the fall always hurt so much more from the higher height of being happy than it did from just being numb.

They both went quiet again, Tony letting go of the boy’s arm once he’d finished putting the cream on. Now he just had to wrap it up.

For some reason, it was only then Peter sobered up enough to realize all the man had actually been doing for him. He was taking care of him, and helping him with his injuries even though he really didn’t have to. More than that, his hands were being so gentle with him, when he should, at the very least, be rough handling Peter as punishment for what he’d done.

“Have you ever tried doing something else as opposed to this? I get that it’s probably really hard to stop once you start, but you shouldn’t be hurting yourself, Peter.”

The teen closed his eyes guiltily, lower lip wobbling a bit. Sometimes he tried to stop, but he didn’t have anyone or anything to help or distract him from the overwhelming urge.

“Don’t tell anyone about this, but you know that woman from earlier? Natasha?” Peter nodded, confused at the turn of conversation but also curious. “Well, she used to hurt herself like this too, and to stop she kept an elastic band on her wrist to flick instead. Do you think you could try that?” He’d never talked to Natasha about why she did it, but he wished he had now so he could have had more context for this conversation with Peter. So he knew of more ways to help him. He’d had to take the woman to medical one day after a fight and they cut her sleeve off to check damages, and when he saw the cuts adorning her arm she’d just glared at him to keep quiet, which he’d dutifully done, not really wanting to talk about it either. But then the next day she told him that flicking a band at her wrist helped, so there was no need to worry- this information really didn’t do much to actually calm him however. Thinking back on it now, he should have tried to talk to her a little more, offered support, instead of nodding his head and walking away like he had. But still, hopefully this method would work for Peter.

He wished he could ask FRIDAY but they still didn’t want to use her around Peter incase she scared him, and it would also be a bit blunt to ask for information on cutting in front of the kid.

He picked up the elastic band, holding it up to show Peter. The boy tilted his head a bit at the object as though it were foreign to him, or maybe the idea of him being given it as a method to help was weird. Peter wanted to please the man, so he nodded his head. He wasn’t all too sure whether or not he was dreaming, but he doubted it because his dreams were never nice.

He let Tony lift his hand to slip the band on, and then blinked down at it curiously. He didn’t understand why Tony was doing this for him, he couldn’t figure out how it could possibly benefit the man.

“Thank you.” Tony sighed with an attempt at a smile. He didn’t know if the kid would actually follow through with his promise, or if it would actually work, but hopefully he’d at least try. “Come on, let’s get you bandaged up then I think it’s an early night for you.” Again. He was only going to put on some bandages over the bigger cuts, otherwise he’d have to wrap his entire arm up and Peter would be left looking half mummified.

He checked it over again when he was done, before pulling away to look at the kid. Peter looked absolutely exhausted, eyes barely open and body slumped over where he sat, and Tony couldn’t blame him, as he too was tired after waking up at the same time as Peter (this was assuming the kid had actually slept at least a little bit last night, which he hoped he had) and he hadn’t been the one on the verge of a panic attack all day every day.

“Probably a dumb question, but do you want to take a shower now or in the morning?” The kid could barely stand, Tony wasn’t sure he’d even allow him to if he said now.

Peter had been waiting to be told he could have a shower ever since he got there, desperate to wash off Mr Carson’s hands, so of course it was just bloody typical for him to be given permission when he could barely keep his head up. He really wanted to say yes, but not only was he unsure if he’d actually be able to go through with it, he didn’t know if Tony planned on leaving the room when he showered and Peter wasn’t going to risk that. What if he tried to undress him?

“‘Morrow.” He mumbled in reply, fists clenching in worry that that was the wrong answer.

“Okay, kid.”

Peter could feel Tony watching him in silence, and it was starting to unnerve him, and he wanted to look up to see what he was doing, before the man pulled away. He was startled when the man got down to his knees and took both of his hands, Peter squeezing his legs closed out of reflex.

“Peter, listen really carefully, okay? I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but I’m here for you. You shouldn’t hurt yourself because you deserve so much better than that, and I’m going to make sure that you go to a good home where they can love and protect you. I promise. Okay? Because that’s  what you deserve. But even then, if you ever want to talk, you can call whenever and I swear I’ll answer. Me and Pepper. You’ve got that phone I gave you, don’t you? Did you set it up okay?”

Peter still hadn’t taken it out of the box, and quickly shook his head, wanting Tony to continue. His eyes had widened as he listened in wonder, heart pounding wildly. He looked so sincere as he said all of this, that Peter found himself obliged to believe him and upset that he wasn’t actually staying here. If Tony was being honest- which recent events seemed to prove true- would there ever be anyone else who cared for him like them?

“We’ll do that tomorrow. So you can call us whenever you need to. If you need to talk, or to distract yourself for a bit, you can. I know it’s going to be really hard for you to stop hurting yourself, you’ve been through so much, and it’s okay if you can’t help it. There is nothing wrong with you, and you’re already so strong for dealing with everything you’ve been through. But can you please just try your best? That’s all I’m going to ask of you, just give it your best shot because you shouldn’t be hurting. You don’t deserve it.”

Peter was crying now, balling his eyes out, and for once it wasn’t out of agonizing sadness. His heart hurt but in a different way. It felt… it felt so good to be understood. To be told there was nothing wrong with him, and that he was allowed to feel how he felt. That, he didn’t deserve to be hurt, even by himself. With no thought what so ever, but out of pure instinct, Peter slipped off of the counter and he too fell onto his knees beside Tony. Before he knew it he had thrown himself into the man’s chest, one hand desperately fisting the man’s shirt, not wanting him to leave, as he sobbed into the probably mega expensive fabric.

Tony was stiff for a moment, unsure of what to do and glancing around the room as though looking for a clue on how to handle this, before lifting his arms up to lightly place his hands on the boy’s back. He was worried he’d hurt him if he held him too tightly, or scare him if he properly hugged him even though that seemed to be what the kid wanted.

He could feel his shirt dampen, and Peter’s body wracking with sobs and gasps of breaths against him. The teen clawed at his shirt in desperation, and so Tony cautiously wrapped his arms around the kid in a tight embrace.

Peter’s cries died down a bit as he processed this change in position, and Tony had an apology and an excuse on the tip of his tongue for if he had misread the situation until Peter turned his head and buried his face into Tony’s chest instead, still crying but more softly now. Tony took his shot and ran with it, using the opportunity to rub the teen’s back up and down and make shushing noises in his ear. If anyone asked him whether or not it was true he’d groveled on the floor with a kid clinging to his chest and willingly cuddled him for a good ten minutes, then he’d… well, he wouldn’t deny it.

Peter didn’t know whether he should feel as safe as he did in the man’s arms. Why was he letting Mr Stark trap him against his chest? He could do anything to him now and he wouldn’t be able to get away. It just, it felt so nice having someone hold him kindly and comfort him. It was like the man was taking some of the unbearable weight off of his shoulders, helping him carry it around. He squeezed his eyes closed not wanting this to ever end. He didn’t want reality to catch up to him. Didn’t want to deal with bad people tricking and hurting him anymore. If Mr Stark took this opportunity to hurt him right now, Peter would simply just give up. He wouldn’t even try to fight him, because really, there wasn’t anything to fight for. He just wanted it all to stop.

Tony wasn’t sure how long it took for Peter’s crying to stop, or how long after that that it took for him to realize the kid had fallen asleep on him. He leaned away a bit so he could look down at the boy, sighing in relief to see his peaceful expression. Peter had never fallen asleep in front of him before, hadn’t felt safe enough too, so either the exhaustion had caught up with him or, maybe, he’d finally earned a bit of trust from the boy? Even so, he hadn’t expected the kid to look so peaceful. He’d thought the kid would, even in his sleep, look on guard and pained, but he didn’t. If it weren’t for his flushed face, baggy eyelids and tear tracks, one could almost mistake him for just a normal kid. One who hadn’t been brutally hurt by the world.

Tony debated his options on what he could do here. The kid couldn’t very well sleep on the floor, and while he was pretty much certain the boy would be completely out of it for at least a few hours (if he hadn’t already witnessed the teen’s crap sleeping schedule and nightmares, he would have predicted a whole ass day) he didn’t know whether he should risk carrying the kid to bed. He’d done that after the police interrogation when the boy had passed out, and he had been so light and sickeningly easy to carry it hadn’t been a problem. He was in an awkward position now though what with the kid lying on top of him, and if he were to be honest he didn’t really want to let go of the boy just yet. Ever since Peter had gotten there he’d wanted to comfort and protect him, and now he finally had his chance he wasn’t ready for it to end.

Peter’s head came just up to his chin, and his hair was fluffy and curly. He wanted to run his hands through it but his arms were too busy supporting the kid, who was so heavily leaning on him (he was basically a dead weight at this point, the poor kid had completely knackered himself out) that if he let go the boy would topple over. He settled for leaning his chin on the boy’s head instead, swaying them both from side to side a bit.

Peter deserved the best family he could get, one that could better help him through recovery, one with experience. Tony didn’t have any experience with this. He didn’t even know what to do with a kid who wasn’t suffering 24/7 let alone one who was. He didn’t know how he was supposed to help Peter. He wasn’t the best the kid could get, and that just simply wasn’t good enough.

Pepper must have gotten worried about how long they’d been gone for, as he hadn’t told her anything, and she peered her head around the door and looked in shock when she saw the state Peter was in and that he was cuddled into Tony’s chest. She couldn’t see his arm, and Tony didn’t know if he should tell her what happened or if that would be an invasion of the kid’s privacy. Would he lose the bit of Peter’s trust he’d managed to gain if he told her? But it was best if Pepper knew too, right?

“What happened here?” She asked, walking around the two on the floor to be in Tony’s eye sight.

“We’ll talk later. He’s fine though, just needed some sleep and apparently I’m the best pillow around.”

Pepper crouched down to better see the teen, pushing a stray curl off of his face and tucking it behind his ear. It was clear the boy hadn’t had a haircut in some time, and somehow the longer, messy hair style made him look even younger. Pepper placed a hand under Peter’s chin to tilt his head up so she could see him better. He must be completely knocked out to not even stir a little at that.

“We should probably get him to bed, hopefully he’s worn himself out enough to sleep well tonight. Can you carry him?”

Tony nodded, trying not to seem disappointed he couldn’t hold him for a bit longer, but in all honesty his legs were already starting to hurt and he didn’t want the kid to wake up with a soar back. He’d sleep better in a proper bed. He tried to shift to stand himself up but found he couldn’t do that without letting Peter tumble to the floor. “Can you hold him up for me?”

Pepper did as told and held the teen up from under his good arm and a hand round his chest, brows scrunching in confusion and worry at the bandages adorning the bad one. He didn’t need his sling on all of the time, but he usually had it on whenever Pepper saw him, and if he didn’t he had on long sleeves. Were those bandages always there?

Tony stood to his feet before leaning down to scoop the kid up, again grimacing at how light he was. It should not be this easy to carry around a fourteen year old, especially one entirely unconscious.

Once Tony gently lowered Peter onto the bed, he stepped out of the way and let Pepper slip off the kid’s socks and unbutton his jeans. They weren’t going to actually take them off, as that would be a huge invasion of the kid’s privacy and it would most definitely freak him out when he woke up, so unfortunately he’d have to be in jeans for the night. Pepper pulled the quilt over the boy and they watched as he contently sank into the warm sheets. They wished he was always this relaxed.

They both knew it was time to go and leave the boy to sleep, but neither could tear their eyes away from him. It took Morgan crying to break the spell they were both seemingly under, as Tony rushed to go get her incase she woke up Peter, and Pepper was left to give the teen a soft kiss on his forehead and pull the door quietly closed behind her.

It would be the first time he’d sleep with the door unlocked.

Chapter Text

Pepper was completely and utterly perplexed. Peter, who hadn’t initiated any contact with them up until now and hadn’t allowed Tony to even touch him, had been clinging to her husband as though he were the only one that could save him from drowning.

Judging by the fact that they were both on the floor when she found them and Peter looked like he’d cried himself to the point of passing out, it was probably safe to assume that Peter had finally broken down after all that had happened to him, and chosen Tony to be the one to break down to. Only question was, what, if anything, caused him to break down like that?

These were the thoughts running through her head as she made her way to her daughter’s nursery, finding Tony on the rocking chair with her. Morgan was fast asleep yet Tony was still- probably subconsciously- rocking them both, just like he had been doing with Peter not long ago.

Pepper took a moment to smile at the domesticity of the sight, before making her presence known.

“Tony?” She called softly, not wanting to startle him or wake Morgan.

Tony turned his head to look at her, gesturing for her to come closer. Pepper did so happily, leaning down to look at their sleeping daughter with a smile. She gently stroked the infant’s cheek with her finger, cooing when the baby leaned into the touch and moved her mouth in her sleep, probably as a result of the soft touch tickling her.

“She is a little angel, isn’t she.” Pepper stated, no question about it.

“Hmm. I’ll remind you of that when we get to the ‘Terrible Twos’ and she refuses to eat her food, or the teen years and she sneaks out to some party.” Tony teased, even though he was obliged to agree. His daughter was a perfect little angel.

Pepper scoffed lightly. “If she sneaks out, I’m blaming your genes.”

“Oh yes, because little Miss Virginia Potts was such a goody two shoes.” Tony had seen pictures of Pepper during her goth phase, at parties and tipsy to the point she wouldn’t have been standing if it weren’t for random guys holding her up. Needless to say when Pepper’s Uncle Morgan showed him these, he’d thanked the man for the blackmail and then went on to name his kid after him. “Besides, I was in college during my teen years. What did you expect?”

Pepper’s smile betrayed the glare she was trying to give him, as she said “Call me Virginia again and you lose baby cuddling privileges for a week.”

Tony saluted, before looking back down at his daughter who seemed to be having a dream. Tony thought it was funny how she slept with her mouth wide open and arms sprawled out, not even two weeks old yet she already had such a big personality. She would definitely be quite the character when she grew up, he could just tell.

“Tony, what happened with Peter earlier?”

He had been waiting for that question yet he still didn’t have an answer for it. He didn’t know if he should tell her or not.

If it had been him at Peter’s age, he’d have been furious if he found out people were talking about things he shared with them in trust (and Peter hadn’t even chosen to share this with him, it had been discovered on accident). He’d seen enough gossip about him in the news growing up to earn a deep distaste of people knowing his personal business.

“Talk later.” He said, and Pepper looked like she wanted to object but thankfully didn’t push it.

“Okay, I’m going to get started on dinner, are you coming down?” She asked instead, standing up straight to go to the door.

“Yep. Coming.” He carefully stood from the chair, holding the infant tightly. “Can you take her down? I’m gonna go check on Pete.”

 “He’s fine, he’s fast asleep.” She informed him, but nevertheless accepted the baby off of him so he could go see for himself.

 And so, Pepper took Morgan downstairs to put her in the bassinet down there while she got started on dinner, and Tony went to go check on Peter.

 He quietly opened the door, half expecting it to have been locked by now, but Peter really must be out of it as he hadn’t even stirred. He was still fast asleep where they’d left him, only now he was protectively curled into himself a little bit more.

It was a lot better with the door unlocked, as he now knew that if Peter started screaming like he had the other night that he could get to him. That still didn’t change the fact that he wanted to stay in there with him just to make sure he was absolutely okay, but he couldn’t do that as he doubted Peter would appreciate him watching him sleep.

 He left the door slightly open so he could better hear if the kid was having a nightmare, before heading downstairs. He hoped the kid got a good sleep, he really needed it.

~~~~~

 Tony went to check on Peter once more after dinner was made, but found him to still be fast asleep. So they put his dinner in the fridge before sitting down in the living room with theirs.

They talked for a while about nothing of importance, until that conversation, of course, turned round to be about Peter. Pepper admitted to how she too now wanted to keep Peter. They’d both started to see him as their son, and neither of them could fathom the idea of sending him to live somewhere else and, likely, never seeing him again.

If this had been this morning, before Tony realised just how unqualified he was to take care of Peter, he would have been on the phone to social services before Pepper could even finish talking to ask if they could keep Peter permanently.

Unfortunately, it was not this morning. 

Provided that the family they find for Peter was a good one with qualifications, flawless background checks, and experience, it would be better for Peter to be with them, would it not? They both agreed on that. It would be selfish for them to keep him with them instead of giving him his best shot at getting better. But if they found a single thing wrong with the family, Peter would not be leaving.

 They were both quiet for the rest of the day at the agreement they’d come to, both of them wanting to change their minds and keep Peter with them, but neither of them actually saying it.

It continued like that until Pepper took herself to bed, baby hormones raging as she cried quietly to herself as she thought about having to say goodbye to Peter any day now.

 ~~~~~

He was still asleep.

It was the next day and had just passed eleven in the morning, meaning the kid had been asleep for seventeen hours.

Tony was worried, obviously, because what if he’d fallen into a coma or something? Pepper assured him he was fine, just exhausted, and told him to let him sleep, but Tony really needed to wake him up now. Peter had to eat something, and Tony had to know he was okay.

So, he headed to Peter’s room and kneeled next to the mattress which was still on the floor. He’d have to set up an actual bed in there at some point. He took a moment to examine the kid, who was lying mostly on his back but tilted a little to the side. It was probably as comfortable a position he could have with his numerous injuries. His arms were curled around his stomach, and his knees pulled up a bit protectively, hair strewn every which way possible. He looked so… small.

“Peter.” He whispered quietly at first, he didn’t know how to go about waking him without scaring him. “Pete, wake up buddy.” No response. He moved his hands to give the kid a light shake, but thought better of it, instead just resting his hands on the mattress. “From the depths of your slumber I summon thee, Parker.” He spoke a bit louder, which prompted a reaction in the form of the teen’s face scrunching up tiredly, and him tilting his head to hide in the pillow with a small grumble. It was sort of comforting to see the kid do a normal teenager thing.

“Peter, it’s feeding time. Come on.”

Another tired grumble from the boy, as he shuffled around. “Ben, f’ve more min’es.”

Now Tony was confused. Who the hell was Ben? Concerned, he actually reached out to shake the kid awake, but that ended up being unnecessary as as soon as his hands made contact with the boy’s shoulders Peter tensed up before jolting wide awake and snapping into a sitting position, bumping his head against the wall in his effort to move away from whoever touched him.

The teen’s wide brown eyes blinked at him in shock, but Tony was pleasantly pleased to note that the boy actually seemed relieved and relaxed slightly upon seeing it was him.

Had this Ben guy hurt Peter and the kid thought he was him? Tony wasn’t naïve enough to think the Carsons had been the only ones to hurt Peter, as much as he’d like to. Peter was already young and it was upsetting to think of an even younger Peter getting hurt and thrown in and out of homes. Tony wasn’t sure when the kid had been put into foster care, or when his parents had died, but he hoped he hadn’t been too young. A kid being under the age of ten and all alone was unfathomable, yet was unfortunately a reality to a lot of kids. Tony would have to look into doing more for children without homes, he already donated monthly to New York City Children’s Voice but he could definitely be doing more. Maybe throw some charity events, galas, set up some visitations to help out first hand, hell perhaps he could set up a separate division in the Maria Stark Foundation to focus specifically on kids in need. Why hadn’t he done that already?

“S-s-sir?”

Peter’s uncertain voice and worried gaze brought him back to earth, he’d found himself drifting off into his own thoughts more and more lately. Since when had he become so contemplative?

Peter was kneeling on the mattress looking at him in concern, breathing having calmed down now.

Tony swallowed and stood up before he could fire a million and ten different questions at the kid. “Welcome back to the land of the living, kiddo. Go have your shower, get dressed. Enjoy your time before Pepper piles food down your throat.”

Peter knew that was meant to be a joke but it didn’t stop the memories of one of his old foster parents force feeding him.

“Open up, baby girl.”

Spoon pushed past his lips, down his throat, people laughing at him, his cheeks flushing bright red in embarrassment. Spoon down his throat, can’t breathe, gagging the mushy substance back up.

“Aww, is wittle Petey not hungry?”

His cheeks squeezed together harshly, enough so that his mouth opened, the man condescendingly moving his head around. “Is Petey gonna cry? Cry like a little sissy baby?”

The raw humiliation had been enough to make his eyes water, as the man shoved another spoon down his throat.

“Eat your food, sissy boy. Be grateful I’m even feeding your fat ass.”

Peter blinked and found himself alone in the room again, Tony having left a few seconds ago. His stomach dropped as he saw the band on his wrist and remembered what had happened yesterday. He’d fallen asleep on Tony, on the same day as being rude to the man’s friend and him discovering about Peter’s cutting. How fucking stupid had that been? He may as well fall asleep in a dark nightclub alleyway.

Peter closed his eyes to try and discern if anything had been done to him while he was asleep, but found that nothing hurt more than usual. He was still dressed, so there was no reason to think anything had been done to him. Except that he’d literally fallen asleep on the man. Everything from last night was fuzzy, he remembered crying, hurting himself, Tony cleaning him up and telling him he didn’t deserve it, then at some point he’d ended up in the man’s arms. He’d completely just broken down. Literally anything could have happened to him, but so far all that had seemed to happen was that Peter had probably made Tony very uncomfortable. And made himself look stupid. Weak. Pathetic.

Peter huffed out a shaky breath, and rocked himself slowly back and forth whilst hugging his knees. What was going to happen when he went downstairs? Did Pepper know? They were all going to hate him now. Or at the very least never look at him the same. Now they knew that the broken kid they’d taken in was so broken that he even hurt himself. He’d liked having foster parents who didn’t look at him like he was broken for once…

He sat trembling for a few minutes- god, you are a little sissy- before breathing in a deep breath to try calm himself before standing up. He’d been given permission to have a shower, and by god was he going to take up that offer.

~~~~~

Tony was in the bathroom waiting for him, and for a moment Peter panicked thinking he’d been led into a trap. Until the man explained to him that he’d brought Peter’s wash kit into the bathroom and suggested he leave it there, professing that he was the only one who used that bathroom so it just made sense to keep it there. As inconspicuous as it sounded, Peter couldn’t help but get an inkling that the man wanting him to keep it there as opposed to his room had something to do with the razor in the bag, and the thought made the teen flush red and hands shake in frustration.

Then Tony had thankfully left him alone, Peter immediately locking the door behind him before sighing in relief.

Now he stood in front of the bathroom mirror undressed, eying himself critically, and it was safe to say that he did not make a pretty sight.

His torso was covered in hand shape bruises, some red welts from Mr Carson’s belt (which there were more of on his back) and the horrible circular marks on his chest and arms from cigarettes being put out on him. This wasn’t even including the amount of scars he had from older homes, Peter thought, as he stared at the mark on the lower back of his neck from when Mr Miller had gone too hard with his belt and the buckle had gotten caught there.

His broken shoulder was a horrible bruising colour, and it looked swollen probably from Peter not using the sling as much as he should and not taking his pills. Just under it there was the burn mark from the frying pan that had been pressed on him, followed by the now fading scars from Mrs Carson’s long fake nails and the self inflicted cuts from the last few nights. They still had bandages on them so he couldn’t  see some of them properly, and Tony had told him to have a towel over that arm to keep it dry.

Peter turned to the side to look at himself that way, grimacing at how sickly he looked. His hips still had Carson’s handprints on them, and Peter wasn’t blind, he could see that he was under weight. But that didn’t stop the voices of people calling him fat and a pig circling around in his head, as he squeezed the very little flesh there to make a roll appear on his stomach, before poking it judgingly.

Not wanting to look at his stomach any more, he turned back to face forward, continuing the rest of his journey of self hatred. When he saw the bite mark on his inner thigh he could have thrown up. He had plenty of hickeys on his chest and collar bone, but this one Carson had actually bitten into him, as though he were a piece of meat. He wanted to cry as he remembered how he’d gotten it.

Hot breath, goosebumps, saliva.

The memory was engraved into him, and it was all Peter had to hope it wouldn’t scar. He couldn’t have that man’s mouth on him forever. The very thought made him want to curl up into a hole and die. He lightly traced his hand over the red bite mark, before tearing his eyes away from the mirror, not wanting to look at the sight he had become.

He wondered, if his aunt and uncle would even recognise him anymore. They’d always professed how much they loved what a happy child he was, how the other parents always asked how Peter managed to come out of school every day with a smile on his face, how he always brightened their day. He rarely ever smiled anymore, and he wondered if Ben and May would even like him if they met him now. Not that he deserved it, it was his fault they died.

He stepped into the shower and turned the tap onto the highest temperature until the water was scalding, prepared to scrub scrub scrub everything, everyone away. He didn’t want to stop until he got rid of at least the first layer of skin and his body was red. He had to get it all away.

~~~~~

He stepped back out of the shower half an hour later feeling mildly better. He felt cleaner, fresher, less like Carson’s hands were still on him, but he’d unfortunately failed in his pointless endeavour to wash off all of the scars and bite marks.

His wet hair stuck to his face and dripped down his back as he dried off. It had really needed washing and Tony had given him the wash bag, which included shampoo, and told him it was his, so he took a risk and used it. He hoped he wouldn’t get in to trouble. If it had been anyone else who wasn’t a billionaire, he wouldn’t have done it, but his hair hadn’t been washed properly in what felt like months, and it wasn’t as though they were tight for money and couldn’t afford to waste a little on him.

He’d luckily remembered to bring clean clothes with him to change into, as if he hadn’t he simply wouldn’t be able to walk across the hallway in only a towel and would have had to wear the clothes he had on yesterday and slept in. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do with his dirty clothes and the soaked towel he’d dutifully kept over his arm and bandages, and he was pretty sure the clothes he was putting on were the last clean ones he had except for the two shirts he’d bought yesterday. Maybe he could try to wash them that night when everyone was asleep? And, if he could find where they kept their laundry, he could do everyone else’s washing too as a thank you.

If it weren’t for his own anxiety about staying in one place for too long and becoming trapped, he would have had no qualms about spending the rest of his time there in his room hidden away in bed behind a locked door in the dark. He didn’t want to go downstairs and face them after yesterday, but they’d told him to. And if they were offering him food he should definitely take it while he still could.

He stepped down the first step of the stairs, the faint sound of music playing catching his ears. God, he hoped he wasn’t walking into a trap. Had Tony told Pepper what he did? Did she hate him now? Or, what if Tony was waiting for Peter to be there when he told her? So he could humiliate and shame him just like Carson had done.

He was already embarrassed just thinking about yesterday, and how he’d cried into the man’s chest like a silly child. He hoped the kindness Mr Stark had shown him wasn’t fake. God he hoped not, but Peter could understand if he’d pushed his limits last night. If they did hate him now, he shouldn’t let it affect him, it shouldn’t affect him; he was use to it, he already hated himself enough for all of them.

He still was at the top step of the stairs, too scared to move, but with a fake it until you make it attitude, he took a deep breath, straightened his back, and tried to mask any emotions he had in the hopes he’d go numb to anything they threw at him and that they wouldn’t see straight through him. He couldn’t quite stop the nervous jerk his leg kept doing or the clenching of his fists however.

The charade almost went out of the window when he got to the bottom of the stairs and started hyperventilating, but he slammed his mouth shut and swallowed it down just in time before someone noticed him. 

“Peter! Good morning, sweetheart. Did you have a nice sleep?” Pepper was kneeling on the living room floor, on a rug that hadn’t been there the day before, with Morgan lying on the floor in front of her.

Peter’s eyes travelled from her to the baby, relieved to see that the infant was okay. He nodded in answer, trying to give her a smile, before shuffling closer to the pair. He couldn’t see Tony anywhere, and he spun around to make sure he wasn’t creeping up behind him before looking back to examine Pepper. He searched for any malice, pity, disgust, or anything of the kind in her gaze, but his search came up empty. She wasn’t looking at him weirdly or treating him any differently, she was smiling at him just like she usually did. Did she not know?

“Good, you needed that nap.” She noted, leaning down to give Morgan a kiss before standing up. Peter immediately shuffled back incase she was going to go for him, but luckily he was wrong. “Morgan’s just having some tummy time, do you want to play with her while I go make you something to eat?”

Peter blubbered for a moment, trying to form words to tell her that she didn’t need to get him anything, but she’d already walked past him into the kitchen leaving him alone with Morgan. The baby was lying on a play mat on the rug with some toys lying around her, moving her legs around and gripping her dress.

“Is cereal okay?” Pepper called from the kitchen, before appearing in the archway after realising that Peter more than likely wouldn’t be able to verbally answer. Peter, not knowing what else to do, nodded in response. He sighed in relief when she disappeared back into the kitchen, his attention settling back on Morgan.

He moved closer to her to make sure she was okay, but had to pause to smile when she tilted her head to look back at him and gurgled.

He got closer and kneeled down by her, gently reaching out to stroke her rosy cheek. She squirmed a little, making Peter laugh and fully sit down on the floor. He touched one of the hanging toys attached to the overhead cover on the play mat so it swung back and forth, making a rattling sound. Morgan attempted to look up to see what it was but couldn’t yet lift her head or roll over onto her back to see.

He couldn’t help but quietly imitate some of the noises the baby made, communicating with her in her own language and thus completely enrapturing the infant as she excitably cooed and babbled back. Checking no one was behind him first, he timidly lifted Morgan up and turned her so she was lying on her back and he could see her better.

He went to straighten her clothes out when he noticed she wasn’t wearing a body vest underneath her pink pinafore and white long sleeve shirt. Peter had looked after loads of babies in various different houses, and he knew to always make sure they wore vests under their clothes so they were less likely to get cold and if they drooled or spit up on their clothes their bodies wouldn’t get wet. Maybe Pepper had assumed that the thick shirt and dress were enough layers? And maybe they were, maybe he was overreacting, it wasn’t as though they were taking her outside, he just didn’t want her to get cold and ill. They were new parents, still learning, so perhaps he should tell them so they’d know in the future? But no, that would definitely anger them. Adults never wanted to listen to kids. They knew better, he was just being stupid, that’s how it worked.

He pulled up the baby’s tights and pulled her dress back down, which made Morgan squeal in objection, apparently liking holding her skirt up but unable to do anything about it as she interrupted herself with a little sneeze. Peter wiped away her runny nose just in time before Pepper came back in the room and he dived back so he could have the woman in his sight.

“Here you go, lovely.” She said, passing him a bowl with cereal in it and putting a glass of orange juice and another with apple on the coffee table. “I wasn’t sure which one you’d like, so I bought you both.” She added in explanation as he looked at the two glasses weirdly.

The fact that she wasn’t waiting for or expecting a thank you from him made him feel absolutely horrible. He didn’t like being rude, not only did it make him feel bad and ungrateful as he’d been brought up to have good manners, but it also added on anxiety about being punished.

Pepper wasn’t looking at him, so she didn’t see his mouth open and closing as he tried to get himself to talk, and she only looked away from Morgan who now sat on her lap when she heard the rasped response of “th-th-a-ank y-you.” 

“No problem, sweetheart.” She was still amazed that he was talking, and he’d been quiet that morning so she’d half thought yesterday was a dream. She was happy to see she was wrong. “Now, Morgan, stop flashing poor Peter while he’s eating. It’s not very ladylike, is it?” She teased, pulling the dress down again from where the baby had grabbed and pulled it back up attempting to put it in her mouth.

Peter giggled nervously, before going to eat the cereal. Pepper chatted to Morgan while he ate, the mostly one sided conversation (one sided in Morgan’s favour, she was a right little chatter box) making him laugh a few times. When he was nearly finished Pepper addressed him again, what she said making him choke on his cornflakes.

“Oh, and Peter, when your done Tony wants you to go down to his lab.”

He spurted for a second, hitting his chest a few times to stop before looking at Pepper to see if he’d heard that right. Tony Stark… wanted him, Peter, to go down to his lab. His lab- Tony Stark’s lab.

Why?

Obviously, his head wouldn’t let him bask in excitement for more than one moment before replacing it with fear. Why, why did he want him to go down there with him, why? 

Was this about yesterday?

Pepper must have seen his horror, as she smiled sadly at him before jumping in with the reassurances. “Don’t worry, he just said something about setting up your phone. Morgan and I will even come down there with you if you want?”

She told him not to worry, but that was easier said than done as he placed the half eaten bowl of cereal down, feeling too sick to eat. He nodded quickly, because he definitely wanted her down there with him even if that meant there were two people teamed up against him. He placed the bowl on the coffee table, again feeling bad for not cleaning up, before standing to his feet. If he was going to have to go down there he wanted to do it straight away so he couldn’t stew about it and sit around in anticipation for too long. Plus if Mr Stark was angry it was better not to leave him waiting.

“Are you done?” She asked in surprise, not expecting the boy to want to go that quickly, standing up too. Peter again nodded, bouncing on the balls of his feet nervously as he tried not to make a run for it to his room. “Oh. Okay then, honey, let’s get going.”

~~~~~

She rolled her eyes at how loud Tony had his music playing, and stopped at the top of the stairs Peter had seen a few days ago that led to the lab to turn to face him. “Give me one second, I’ll call you in a minute.”

Peter watched as she descended the stairs with Morgan, glad that at the very least he didn’t have to go down with her behind him, eliminating the possibility of her pushing him down the stairs and locking him in there. 

“Tony! Tony, turn it down.” He heard Pepper yell, before hearing a grumbled response from the man and the following yell of “Friday!” from Pepper before the music turned off.

He could hear them talking but they weren’t loud enough for him to hear exactly what they were saying which made him anxious.

Not long after Pepper popped back into view, smiling kindly at the horrified looking teen at the top of the stairs before gesturing for him to come down. “Come on, sweetie. It’s okay.” She’d been making sure there wasn’t anything dangerous out before calling the teen down.

Peter took one step down, feeling a bit like he was descending into his own doom as he couldn’t fully see the room he was walking into. The stairs were quite wide, so it didn’t feel like they were closing in on him which was a relief. He went down slowly, but once he reached the bottom he literally froze still. But not out of fear. More out of pure awe at the room he’d found himself in.

He was in Tony Stark’s lab. And- and there was a frickin robot moving around. And holy shit, WAS THAT IRON MAN’S SUIT!?

He gaped in amazement as his head snapped quickly from side to side as he tried to take it all in, making the adults he’d momentarily forgotten were there laugh softly at him.

“Mornin’ sleeping beauty. Wow look at that, it’s amazing what a little sleep and a shower can do for you. You could almost live up to a young me.” Tony chimed, setting down the cool looking item he’d been holding.

Peter bowed his head bashfully, never having been good at accepting compliments, but the way the man had turned it to compliment himself made it a little easier and made a small smile form on his face.

The ducked head didn’t last long as he heard whirring and looked up to see the robot arm moving and taking down half of the the counter it was by’s contents with it. Peter reflexively jumped back a little at the noise, watching with intrigue as the machine beeped (apologetically?) at Tony before going to pick everything up.

Tony groaned exasperatedly at the machine, before turning to look at Peter instead of the laptop he’d just been facing. “Peter, this is Dum-E. Aptly named, and I’m sure he’ll live up to the low expectations set of him as he always gets especially wound up whenever he meets new people.”

Peter giggled when the arm moved down as though bowing to him in greeting before making a series of beeping noises and tilting its claw at Tony like it was asking something.

It was so frickin cool that Peter couldn’t help but take a step closer to them, Pepper smiling encouragingly at him from where she’d sat by the stairs with Morgan, keeping the baby out of the way of everything.

“Take a seat, Pete. We’re going to set up that phone for you and then I could use some help on this new design I’m making. If you’re up to it, of course.” After seeing how excited the kid looked when coming down and seeing everything, he’d thought that maybe Peter would enjoy making something. There wasn’t actually any new designs so he’d have to come up with something kid safe if the boy agreed, but maybe he could get Peter to actually have a nice time?

The teen jumped at that chance, mouth hung open as he nodded frantically, moving over to the stall by Tony in an amazed daze at having been offered to help Tony Stark make something. 

“Good.” He said, disconnecting the boy’s phone that he’d retrieved from the kid’s room earlier from his laptop, which it had been charging from. It hadn’t been much of a surprise to him to have found it still untouched in it’s box, and after the conversation they’d had yesterday Tony wanted to get the kid’s phone up and running so he could contact them or whoever if he ever wanted to talk to someone. “Let’s get started.”

Chapter Text

It had definitely been one of the best days they’d had together, and by far the coolest day of Peter's short life. 

He'd gotten to spend all day working and building in the lab with his childhood idol, Pepper sat with a cooing Morgan by the stairs to keep the baby safely out of the way. She did leave briefly to retrieve Peter's sling and get Morgan some milk, but came straight back to be a silent support for him. Not that he found himself needing it, as as Tony gently guided him through what he needed Peter to do, the teen quickly found himself relaxing into the calm atmosphere, talking more and more, and even braving enough to ask questions when he felt curious about things. When he’d apologized for speaking too much, Tony had waved it off saying that asking questions was how you learned. Upon seeing the positive reactions the two adults had to his increased socialism, he even started timidly joking back a few times in response to Tony's light teasing. 

The man had laughed and patted his back when he made a joke or to praise Peter for doing a good job, which had repelled the boy at first but he soon found himself getting use to the casual touches. It made him feel cared about, normal, which, in itself was dangerous, but it was nice to feel while it could last. Five hours later, Peter had a new, setup phone, and they had built a smart-watch together that Tony had installed a tone of cool features into whilst keeping the placebo look of just an everyday watch. 

Now, the man was looking the tech over, making sure everything was working properly and softening it around the edges, praising the kid on a job well done. Peter was sat at a stool on the work bench, beaming at all of the positive feedback and still giddy after the last few hours.

"Everything's looking good, kid. Well done. There's just one last thing we need to do."

Peter tilted his head in question, only slightly worried that he'd done something wrong but he pushed that feeling down as he'd just been told everything looked good. 

Tony reached to grab the teen's phone, which had been resting on a charging bank, pulling the holographic screen up from the watch with a pinching motion of his fingers, before lazily scrolling through the settings. Peter looked in awe as he watched the motion sensors he'd helped put in do their job, leaning forward to better see what Tony was doing. Tony reached back for the phone, opening the camera and scanning the QR code that had been displayed, before sliding both devices back towards the teen with a smile.

"All done, enjoy the phone and watch, kiddo. I set them up into a PAN, you just need to add in your thumbprint to unlock both of them."

With a mouth dropped wide open, he reached for the watch. "I-it's for m-me?" He'd been under the influence that he was helping Tony build a prototype for a new design, which was cool enough on its own, but never had it crossed his mind that the watch was actually for him.

"Yeah, of course it's yours. You made it, I just passed you the materials." he replied casually with a shrug, shifting stuff around and crouching to tuck a box away under the desktop.

Peter felt his eyes water up with appreciation, making himself feel silly as Tony wasn't treating it like a big deal.

Peter wanted to hug him. Should he hug him? He shouldn't hug him. "Th-th-thank y-you, s-sir." He cringed at his own stutter, it had lessened as he grew more comfortable but now it had come back in full swing as he worried about seeming ungrateful or needy. 

Tony snorted, which made the boy tense, before he said, "Call me Tony, kid. 'Sir' makes me feel old."

Peter would most definitely not be calling him Tony. As that was too personal, too chummy, too close to when Mr Carson had made him call him Michael whenever he visited in the night, or when other carers acted all nice and friendly to him in front of people or just after he moved in, only to then be horrible to him once he'd let down his guard or gone behind closed doors. He nodded in agreement to appease the man, deciding to just avoid names all together so he wouldn't anger him.

Pepper, who had been walking up and down to try appease the now fussy infant, spoke next. "Are you two all done down here? I should get dinner started soon."

"Why don't we order in today? I’m really feeling Indian. Plus you look tired, there are massive bags under your eyes."

"Charming as ever." she said with a half glare, leaning against the wall. 

"Only trying to save your legs, dear." he replied with an easy grin, cleaning his hands off with a dishrag. "Also, shrimp fried rice." he added with a delighted groan.

"Well it's not about us, it's up to Peter." they both turned to look at the teen, whose eyes had been flickering between the both of them, but now he repelled back at the sudden attention.

He really didn't care what they had for food, he wasn't very hungry since he'd had breakfast that morning- and yes, the back of his mind was aware of how unhealthy his lack of appetite showed him to be. He didn't want Pepper to have to cook for him, that was entirely unfair, and he would have offered to make dinner himself for the both of them but Tony really seemed to want an Indian, so it was easy for him to agree. "U-um, I-indian sounds f-fine." Fine? Wow, way to sound ungrateful. 

They didn't seem to mind, as Tony fist pumped the air dramatically before looking smugly at Pepper at the fact that he'd won. She rolled her eyes at him, not at all pleased that the first time Peter would actually be sat with them for dinner they'd be giving him takeaway not a nice home cooked meal. And wow, wasn't that weird to think, that this was the first day they'd gone without something happening that led to Peter running away upstairs and thus not eating with them. They really hadn't done a good enough job at feeding the boy properly, but it was just so hard to do when the boy seemed too fragile to force into anything. Though they really should be stricter when it was for the teen's own health. He needed to put on some weight, as he was currently just bones. Hadn't his medical file said he had anaemia? So he'd had so little nutrients his very blood had stopped carrying oxygen around properly. No wonder the poor boy looked tired all of the time. Maybe Indian was actually a good idea then, it could give him the fats and iron his body so desperately needed. 

"FRIDAY, find us the best Indian restaurant around here." Pepper spoke to the room, they didn't yet know of any places to order from around there other than the pizza place they'd ordered from on the day they moved in. 

Peter didn't understand who she was talking to until an Irish lilted voice spoke from seemingly no where.

"Mahfil restaurant has the best reviews within a ten mile radius, delivery times are estimated to be under forty minutes after placing an order."

"I-is FRIDAY like A-Alexa?" 

Peter wasn't expecting the appalled reaction he got, as Tony jumped to correct him. "What? No. Don't listen to him, Fri, you're way better than she could ever be."

"Thank you, boss." she replied in a clipped tone, making Peter shrink back guiltily. Was she alive? Had he offended her? "Now, I've put in both yours and Mrs Boss' usual orders, is there anything you'd like to add or take off?" 

"Yes, FRIDAY, can we see a menu?" Pepper called, and suddenly the restaurant's menu was displayed on a screen in front of them. "what would you like, Peter?" 

Slightly startled, the teen blinked a few times before focusing on the screen, immediately searching for the cheapest option. "P-please can I j-just h-have a p-plain naan, please?"

"Yes, of course you can, but that's just a side, sweetheart, you need to have a main too." Pepper was using a really soft and gentle voice, smiling patiently, and Peter didn't know how he should feel about it. 

"'m n-not very hun-hungry, 's okay." He hoped that was an alright answer, he wasn't hungry so they shouldn't have to waste their money on him, he just hoped he didn't sound rude. 

"You haven't eaten since this morning, sweetie. You don't have to eat it all but please can we get you something else too. How about a curry to go with it?"

He decided it was probably best to just agree with her. He'd just have to suck it up and eat it and hope he didn't get sick. "O-okay, u-umm," he looked at the screen again, scanning the prices but they were all around the same price. "th-that one, please?" he pointed towards the tikka masala, as he'd had that before so he knew what to expect with it.

“Okay, sweetheart. Are you sure that’s what you want?”

No. “Y-yes, please.”

”I’ve placed the order now, and I took liberty to add three kulfis for dessert, as they have particularly high ratings.” FRIDAY said, before adding a “beat that, Alexa.”

Tony laughed, and Peter shrunk back again with a blush, thankfully Pepper came in to save him having seen how uncomfortable the teen looked. 

“They’re only joking, lovely.” She put her hand to rest on his back and he was about to shove her off but stopped himself. He looked at Morgan who was snuggled in Pepper’s other arm, half asleep. “Let’s get all comfy upstairs, and find a movie to watch.” She suggested, pulling away from the teen and stepping back towards the stairs. Tony had put everything back into the right places now and nodded in agreement. 

They all went upstairs together, Peter clutching his new phone and watch close to his chest, still not really believing that they were his. In ways, the watch was even better than the phone, because he'd made it, he and Tony had made it themselves. It gave him a great sense of accomplishment, even if he really wouldn’t have been able to do it if not for Tony.

They all went to get changed into comfier clothes, Peter wearing a hoodie over his pajamas, partly for protection and partly because he was constantly chilly. Once back in the living room, Tony and Pepper sat down first, and it didn’t pass his notice that Pepper had gestured for the man to sit in the armchair as opposed to the sofa. Peter’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion, but he wasn’t going to question it as it meant he didn’t have to sit too close to any of them. After the day they’d had together, he felt particularly bad about not trusting Tony and being glad he didn’t have to sit by him. The man had been nothing but kind to him, had given him no reason to be wary around him, and Peter had actually started to feel himself grow comfortable around him. He had to keep mentally reminding himself not to let down his guard, not to let them in just so they could hurt him. But it only made himself feel horrible for thinking that way about them.

He sat down on the sofa, right in the corner away from them both, and right on the edge so that he could run if need be. This defensive stance didn't last long, as the friendly chatter and laughter between Pepper and Tony, mixed in with Morgan's delightful cooing, dragged him into a state of calm. It was just so nice, it was almost like he was... like he was part of the family, they treated him like family. Even though, logically, he knew he didn't belong, but he just... he liked it. He'd missed being a part of a family. Missed the easy conversations he'd use to have with his aunt and uncle.

"So, Peter, do you fancy watching the next Star Wars movie?" Tony asked, wanting to keep the nice time they were having with the kid going. And he had promised they'd watch another one, hadn't he?

He definitely made the right choice, as the teen jumped at the offer. Any traces of the growing apprehension he'd been facing disappearing as he nodded his head wildly, only stopping as his cheeks grew red in embarrassment at showing such enthusiasm about a movie. Tony chuckled slightly with a small smile, and Pepper maternally ran a hand through his wild hair to push it out of his face. He didn't know what went through his head when he leaned into the touch, but it didn't matter as Pepper's hand was gone too soon anyway.

Tony had turned the TV on and it was now displaying all of the Star Wars movies, and Peter couldn't help but gasp when he saw The Last Jedi. "Oooh," he cooed, slamming his mouth straight back closed after. They wanted to watch them in order he was pretty sure, but he couldn't hold in his intrigue at seeing the movie he hadn't seen yet. He really wanted to watch it...

"Did you wanna watch that one, kiddo?"

"U-umm, n-no, it's okay. I-I just ha-haven't seen that one y-yet."

'You haven't? It came out, like, a year ago..." Tony trailed off at the end as he realized that the boy probably hadn't had the chance to go out to the movies or sit around watching TV or do any other normal teen activities for a while. Well that settled that decision. "Why don't we watch that one then if you haven't seen it?"

"R-really? C-can w-we? O-only if you w-want t-to." Peter wasn't going to object too much, but he'd thought Tony would want to watch them in order, not skip all of the episodes just so Peter could watch the one he hadn't yet seen. He still wasn’t over the fact that he was allowed to pick what they watched. That he wasn’t getting mocked for being a dork or something.

"Sure. It only makes sense." Before anything more could be said on the matter, Tony had put the movie on and words died on Peter's tongue as his eyes widened and he was immersed in the screen, squealing in childish excitement at the opening credits, all worries slipping away.

Not long after, the food arrived, and Peter mindlessly nibbled at it while watching. He didn't notice the two adults watching him with soft smiles.

He had all of the naan bread and most of the tikka masala, but he had to stop when he started to feel sick not half way through it. He tried to force a few more mouthfuls down, not wanting to anger the two adults, but if he didn’t stop he was certain he’d throw up all over their floor which was even worse.

After the movie finished, Tony and Pepper (much to their delight) were subjected to an excitable rant about what Peter thought of the movie, both of them listening with smiles and Pepper nodding reassuringly to keep the boy going. It wasn’t that either of them were particularly interested in Star Wars, or understood half of what the teen was going on about since they didn’t know much about the franchise, but it was just so nice to hear the kid speaking so passionately. His stutter had even mostly died down as he rambled quickly, he slowed down a few times, probably having realized what he was doing and getting nervous about it, but Tony would throw in an opinion or ask a question he likely knew the answer to to get him talking again.

After that, Pepper and Tony brought the plates and leftovers into the kitchen while Peter cuddled with Morgan and dutifully got her changed into a onesie for them to take her up to bed. It was hard not to blow raspberries into her pudgy tummy, but he indulged himself in tickling her adorable tiny hands and feet. Her fingers were just so little and cute. He got her into her pink onesie and gave her forehead a soft kiss just before they came back and picked her up to wrap her in a blanket, thanking him for getting her ready.

“Do you want to stay down here for a little while longer?” Pepper asked as she put the pillows back into place. She wouldn’t have offered the option to the boy had it not been for the fact that he’d slept almost a full day last night. He still needed more sleep in her opinion, but it was only eight pm.

“U-umm, can-can I s-stay?” He didn’t want to go to sleep. He’d gotten lucky the night before, having had no nightmares due to just how utterly out of it he’d been, but he doubted that luck would carry on into that night too.

“‘Course you can.” Tony said from where he was bouncing Morgan. He moved towards him and pulled the blanket that was resting at the bottom of the boy’s feet to cover the teen’s body upon seeing him shiver slightly, hoping to make the kid comfortable. “Not that it wasn’t a joy, but I do hope I won’t be bumping into you at four in the morning again.” He teased, alluding to the first night Peter had stayed with them and making the teen flush. Tony ruffled the kid’s hair to let him know he was joking, pushing through the pain that stabbed his heart when he saw that there was still a bit of a flinch from the boy when he put his hand too close to his face. The response was only a natural reflex, he shouldn’t be upset by it. But it still hurt to think the kid thought he’d ever hurt him. “You need your sleep, so no later than eleven, deal?”

Peter nodded with a bit of a grin as he curled up into the blanket. He didn’t get why or how they acted so casual around him, especially after what he’d done yesterday.

Nobody had ever done that before. Even the nice enough families treated him differently or sent him back when they found out how broken he was. Saying he was too much to deal with. But the Starks were still just treating him like a normal person. Not like he was a project that needed to be fixed. Even if it was a little scary when they initiated contact with him without him suspecting it- which they’d done a lot that day- it was nice.

“Night night, kiddo.”

“Sweet dreams, honey.”

“N-night.” He responded, as they switched off the main light and turned on the lamp by him. “Th-thank you. F-for today.”

They both paused what they were doing to look at him.

“No need to thank us, sweetie.” Pepper next to cooed at the sweet boy, who was blinking up at her through long lashes. She wanted to kiss him on the forehead but resisted, settling for running her hand through the soft bouncy curls her husband had not long ago ruffled. “Get to sleep soon, okay?” She cupped the side of his face with her hand, and he leaned into it. “Good night.”

“Night.” Peter replied through a yawn. Watching them both walk up the stairs with a smile, he snuggled further into the blanket, burying his nose in it.

And so he laid there, for the first time in a long time, warm, content, and with a full belly.

He wished it could just stay like that forever.

Chapter Text

The sound of shrill ringing rose him from his sleep, as he mindlessly reached out to grab his phone. He would have silenced it, as there wasn’t yet enough coffee in him to deal with talking to someone on the phone at this time of morning, but he knew Pepper would just tell him to answer it anyway as it could be important.

“Hello?” He answered in a groggy voice, clearing his throat upon hearing it.

“He has a doctor's appointment today.” A voice, Tony probably would have recognised had he not just woken up, spoke quickly. Tony’s brows scrunched in confusion, as he rubbed at his eyes and sat up, leading to Pepper’s arm that had been draped over his chest to fall down.

Said woman mumbled something incoherently at the change in position, as she too rubbed at her eyes and turned onto her side to look up at him. “Who is it?”

“Fuck should I know.” He grumbled in response, passing the phone to Pepper and flopping back down onto the bed.

When Pepper put the phone to her ear, there was an aggravating voice talking quickly about nothing discernible. “Sorry, who is this?” She asked, and the voice immediately stopped.

“Were you not listening to me just now?” The voice spluttered, and when she recognised it to be Chase’s voice she rolled her eyes and held in a groan.

“No.” She stated shamelessly, and would have aggravated the man further if she hadn’t known that this likely concerned Peter and therefore was important. Her heart leaped into her throat as she wondered whether he was calling to say that they’d found a new family for him.

“Peter has a doctor’s appointment today. There, there is the notice you complained about not having last time. Have him ready by nine.” And before anything more could be said, he’d hung up the phone, leaving Pepper with a rebuke right on the tip of her tongue but unable to now say it.

She looked at the time and saw it to be twenty to eight. So not that much of a notice then, but at least it was something.

“Who was it?” Tony asked from where he lay in the bed, and Pepper knew she should probably get up and get ready, but she just couldn’t resist lying back down and cuddling into her husband’s warm chest. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, and god she loved this. To see the man who acted so guarded and distant in front of the public be at his very most vulnerable and open around her.

“Chase.” She could feel him tense at that, probably the same thoughts that had been going through her head going through his. The thought that Peter was being taken from them. “Peter has a doctor’s appointment today.”

She felt the relieved breath he let out and worry again formed in her stomach. How would they feel when the time came for Peter to actually leave them? “He has to be ready by nine, I should go wake him.”

Despite her words, they both lay in quiet for a little while, until Tony broke it. “I don’t want that man around him.” He said, and really, she couldn’t help but agree. Chase hadn't visited or even contacted Peter to check if he was okay, not since Tony had threatened him, and Pepper had half thought that maybe they’d scared him off. Obviously, a naïve notion, but one could live in hope.

“I know, but that’s not up to us.” she sighed, closing her eyes, content to listen to her husband’s heartbeat, but that didn’t last for long as Tony sat up.

“Well there has to be something we could do, surely. Every time he comes around he upsets the kid, he treats him like shit, and that has to be against some kind of regulations.”

Pepper sat up too, knowing that now Tony was worked up they wouldn’t be getting any more cuddle time. Realistically, it would probably be pretty easy for them to get Chase’s ass fired, they were Pepper Potts and Tony Stark after all, but they had to consider the negative impacts that that would have on Peter too. “I know, I don’t want him around Peter either, but we shouldn’t mess with it now. They're probably really close to finding him a home, and we’ll only throw everything off course. We shouldn't mess Peter around and make him get a new case worker when he’s this close to getting a family.”

“I don’t care how close he is. I don’t even want him in the same room as the kid while we’re there, if he’s that much of an ass in front of us, what do you think he’s like alone with Peter? I don’t trust him.” Peter had already suffered enough abuse, he didn’t need to listen to Chase’s arrogant, horrible words on top of that for however long.

Pepper had no words of objection to that, because she fully agreed with him. So, she settled for a middle ground, silently hoping Chase would slip up and they’d be able to persecute his ass. "How about this, we give him one more shot, but if he does anything, if he even so much as looks at Peter in a way we don’t like, then you can call whoever it is you need to to make it so he never works around children again. Deal?"

Tony grinned, and she could see the mischievous glint in his eyes as he thought up a plan of what he wanted to do. “Deal. Are you gonna go wake Pete up while I make a phone call?"

She didn’t need to ask who the call was too, as she nodded her agreement and went to go wake the boy. She walked slowly though, in absolutely no rush to wake the sleep deprived teen or to run around to be ready in time for Chase’s arrival.

Anything to annoy him.

~~~~~

Turns out, she didn’t actually need to wake Peter up, as when she softly pushed open the (much to her joy) unlocked door, she was met with the teen lying on the mattress watching a video quietly on his phone. Upon seeing her, Peter scurried to turn the phone off in fear of getting into trouble, dropping it onto the quilt as though it had scolded him.

“Hey, hey, it's alright sweetie. It’s your phone, you can use it all you want.” she assured, watching the teen’s heaving chest slow down a bit before he managed to give her a small smile, a smile she’d come to love over the last five days. And wow, it felt a lot longer than five days since she’d found out that they were having an unknown teen stay with them for ‘one or two nights’. "Can I?” She asked, gesturing to the mattress, and Peter nodded, sitting up and curling into himself to leave as much room as possible for her to sit down. Pepper sat at the edge, respectfully keeping a distance from the boy.

She looked Peter over, who was now running a hand through his hair shyly. The bags under his eyes that had finally disappeared yesterday were back, and she wondered if he’d slept at all last night. She would have asked him, but figured he’d likely just shrug off her worrying anyway. It was astounding to see the similarities this teen had to Tony, they even looked similar, what with their expressive brown eyes and sleep-mussed curly hair in the morning. Only difference was that Tony had an air of confidence Peter did not possess.

“We just received a phone call. It was Chase.” she gauged for a reaction, and Peter looked up at her with widened eyes. He looked fearful at the mention of the man, which made a fiercely protective streak race through her. “You have a doctor's check-up today and he’s coming in an hour to pick you up.”

She didn't know why the teen slumped in relief, she didn’t know that he’d been just as worried that he was leaving them as they had been.

He nodded in understanding, fiddling with the elastic band Tony had given him. Pepper looked at the band curiously, wondering where he had gotten it and why he was wearing it on his wrist, but chose not to ask. Peter looked less than happy about Chase coming, or about going to another doctor's appointment where they’d poke and prod at him, probably both. She couldn't blame him, what with what happened last time with Chase pinning him down. She reached to hold the scared teen’s hand, wishing she could just take all of his pain away but unfortunately that wasn’t humanly possible for her to do. Peter smiled gratefully at the comfort, rubbing his thumb over her hand. He really was a little sweetheart, how could anybody hurt him?

Much to both her and Peter’s displeasure, she had to pull away as they both needed to get ready, and while she’d love to stress Chase out, it wasn’t fair to the teen to have to rush around to get dressed. Plus she wanted to give the boy plenty of time to eat something. "You get dressed, and I’ll make you some breakfast, sound good?”

He smiled and gave her a thumbs up, and as she stood and began to leave, he called after her with a “thank you,” which left her smiling too.

~~~~~

Peter had plenty of time to eat a good breakfast before he knocked, and despite expecting his arrival this time the sound still made the teen flinch and stumble back to be pressed against the furthest wall from the door.

Tony walked past him to answer, opening the door and then walking back to sit on the back of the sofa, purposely half way between Peter and the door to block him from view, without giving so much as a greeting to the man who walked in.

Chase, of course, once again looked flustered and rushed, and Tony wondered why he always looked so busy when his job was to drive perhaps the most passive and sweet teenager there was and find him a home. The impatience was not at all a desirable quality to have in someone responsible for looking after and being there for kids.

Chase took a moment to look at Tony, and Tony was satisfied to see a small bit of apprehension in the man’s eyes, as he likely recalled their last meeting.

“Hey,” he said, and Tony didn’t bother replying and just nodded in recognition instead. He heard Pepper’s heels clicking behind him, and turned around to see his wife gently wrap an arm around Peter’s shoulders, rubbing his arm comfortingly. Crazily enough, Peter actually leaned in to the half hug, resting his head on the top of her arm, body still trembling slightly from the fear of having to go to another doctor's appointment with Chase.

Pepper had observed that, despite how he appeared, Peter actually seemed to like physical comfort, despite still being anxious when he was receiving it. She took it as one of the highest forms of compliment that he was trusting her enough to let her hug him, even if a niggling thought in the back of her head told her that Peter must just naturally be a very trusting person, and that that trust had been taken advantage of by people many times before.

Chase tilted his head to see behind Tony and look at the teen, which almost made the billionaire snarl but he held it in. Instead just glaring at the man, daring him to step a foot out of line.

“Hello, Peter. Long time no see, huh?"

He, of course, didn’t receive a response from the teen, not even a hand wave. Pepper pulled him in closer to the hug, oddly proud that Peter didn’t feel obligated to greet the man who'd been nothing but rude to him.

Chase, however, was less pleased at the silent treatment. "Hellooo? Have you gone deaf or something? You do speak English, don’t you?” Chase stepped closer, waving his hand condescendingly at the teen who was now hiding his face in Pepper’s arm, “What, not even a wave? I didn’t know you were raised with the manners of a pig, Parker.”

Peter whimpered, upset at the backhanded insult to his aunt and uncle’s parenting, and the triggering word of being compared to a ‘pig’.

It was a bit like the night Peter had been dropped off, with Chase telling the teen to say hello to them and asking what Tony and Pepper must think of him. Except now, it was the other way around, and they were not having it.

Tony cleared his throat, capturing everyone’s attention as he stood up straight. "I didn't want to do this- actually, tell a lie, I did. But you left me no choice.” Tony pressed something on the watch, that was much like the one he and Peter had made the day before, and continued clicking on it as he spoke. “You see, Agent Jennifer Walters- head of the state’s department of health and human services, and thus the social services division- is an old acquaintance of mine, if you catch my drift,” he started with a smirk, Pepper rolling her eyes, knowing exactly what ‘former acquaintance’ implied, but she couldn’t hold in the smile as she knew where this was going. Chase looked at him confused, not having Pepper’s foresight.

“Well, let's just say she owes me a favour after a pretty hot weekend in the Maldives. And...” he looked back down at the watch, and they could faintly see an alert appear on it. “Would you look at that, I now have temporary guardianship to take Peter to the doctors, meanwhile you, however, should be getting a call any moment now.” he looked up from the watch to look at Chase, “you might wanna step outside, this will be quite embarrassing for you.” He suggested.

Of course, Chase did not take his advice, just scoffed at him and crossed his arms over his chest, not believing what he was saying one bit. But that was fine by Tony, the man’s cockiness would just make his downfall all the more amusing to watch.

There was a moment, where they all stood in a tense silence, Peter fidgeting with Pepper’s blouse’s sleeve nervously and the two men staring each other down. It only lasted for around ten seconds before a phone started ringing and Chase’s face dropped and paled in shock as he reached into his pocket to find it was his. And not only that but it was his boss.

He didn’t answer it for a second, prompting Tony to speak again with a shit eating grin on his face. “Might wanna take that, buddy, it’s probably important.”

Chase turned around to give himself a false illusion of privacy as he answered in a quiet tone. “Hello?” Another moment of silence, until the man started to sputter something but must have been cut off by the person on the phone. “But, I— yes I understand but— you can’t do this— but it’s all just a big mistake! I— hello? Hel-hello?” The man moved the phone away from his ear to look at it and find it on the lock screen, having been hung up on by his boss who had just told him that he was to go on administrative leave while they investigated negligence by his part on Peter’s case.

Tony didn’t have the decency to hold in his laughter like Pepper did, as Chase straightened, still not looking at them, as he spoke an empty threat of “you’ll regret this, Stark.” Before walking straight out of the door like the coward he was.

They all listened as the car sped off, Peter with eyes wide in shock and still with Pepper’s arms wrapped around him, who was now no longer hiding her quiet giggles.

When they could no longer hear the car, Tony was the first to bounce back, clapping his hands together as though nothing had happened (clapping softly, of course, so as to not startle the teen).

“Get your jacket on then, kiddo. We’ve got an appointment to get to.”

~~~~~

He and Tony were sat in the car together on the way to the doctors, Peter still hadn’t said anything as he continued to try and understand what had just happened and what that meant for him, and Tony hadn’t tried to get him to speak which he was grateful for.

Peter was sat in the back, a bit too scared to sit in the front with the man while they were alone in the car, but he was oddly not as scared as he’d thought he would be. It was way better than being in a car with Chase, who would moan about how much work Peter was and snap at him whenever he blanked out, asking if he was even listening.

The more Peter thought about what had happened the more tears pricked at his eyes for various reasons. For one, he was moved that Tony had stood up for him. However for two, he was upset as he thought about how he’d been responsible for getting Chase into trouble. He didn’t deserve to get fired, he was only trying to better Peter and correct him for being rude. Mr Stark just didn’t yet know what a bad kid he was, and that Mr Chase was justified in what he said.

“I-is Mr Chase going to b-be o-okay?”

Tony snorted, assuming the question was a joke, until he looked in the overhead mirror and saw the boy’s heartbroken and worried face, his own face immediately softening at seeing the kid so upset.

“Don’t worry about him. He got what he deserved.” He didn’t understand why Peter just looked all the more distressed at the answer.

“N-no! Please, M-mr Stark! H-he was o-only trying t-to he-help. Please, please don’t l-let him ge-get f-fired.”

“Kid, no he wasn’t helping. He was being a jackass.” Tony couldn’t believe it, the boy was begging for Chase’s sake, begging for him to not lose his job after the way he’d treated him. A man who did not deserve Peter’s help in the slightest, was getting it, because apparently, Peter had the righteousness of Steve Rogers. Except Steve at least could see when someone was in the wrong and had at least some self preservation, whereas Peter apparently had none. All the shit the teen had been through, and he didn’t have a single malicious bone in his body. Tony wondered, whether, Peter wanted to see the the Carsons rot in jail like Tony himself wanted to, or if he thought their actions were justifiable as well. The thought of how brainwashed these people had made the kid with their cruel treatment, had Tony clenching his fists on the steering wheel.

“But-” Peter started again, daring to argue to defend Chase of all people.

“But nothing, kid. He shouldn’t have spoken to you like that, no one should, especially not someone whose job is to look after you.” Peter opened his mouth again, likely to defend Chase’s inexcusable actions, but Tony wasn’t finished. Peter needed to hear this. “He upsets you, and that is not okay. If you heard or saw someone else talking to someone the way Chase speaks to you, you wouldn’t like that would you?”

Honestly, Peter wouldn’t have liked that. He didn’t care what they could have done, he hated seeing someone being treated horribly- you could thank getting bullied since elementary school and thus being extremely empathetic to that kind of stuff for that. But Chase hadn’t been treating him badly, sure he always upset him, and made him feel bad, but that was Peter’s fault for being too emotional and stressing Chase out with the amount of homes he got bounced around from.

“Do me a favour kid, if someone ever says or does anything that upsets you, call me, or Pepper, or just someone else you trust, because you do not deserve to be treated that way, okay? I don’t care how little it is, your feelings matter.” Tony almost cringed at his own words, and how touchy-touchy they sounded. But Peter needed someone to be open with, he’d probably had enough cold and distant people in his life, and just needed a friend. He was, from what Tony could tell, all alone in the world, and Tony was all too happy to be that friend he needed. “Like it or not, kiddo, even if you move somewhere else, me and Pep are always there for you now… And Morgan, but while she’s great at the listening side of things, her social skills could do with some improvement.”

Peter giggled at the joke, covering it with his hand shyly, before nodding in understanding with an “okay”. He wasn’t sure whether the man would actually follow through with his words or not, but it certainly left the teen with a lot to think about.

The main two things that ran through his head were the reassurances that his feelings mattered and that Tony was there to hear them. The second was the sentence ‘if you move somewhere else’. Key word: if. The conditional.

Not when, if.

It certainly was a lot to think about.

Chapter Text

When they arrived at the hospital, Tony took a moment to look back in the mirror at Peter, who had been quiet ever since their chat. The teen had curled himself up against the car door, eyes closed, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d assume the kid was asleep. Of course, he wasn’t, and when Tony switched off the car engine his eyes opened, blinking up lethargically at him.

“Here?” Peter rasped quietly as he took in his surroundings.

Yeah, the kid definitely hadn't slept last night.

Just as Tony nodded in affirmation, his phone went off, and he reached into his pocket to see who it was, worry irrationally spiking that something had happened to Morgan. It wasn’t Pepper however, but it was Social Services, telling him that a new social worker was set to meet them at the hospital. This new guy, one Mr Collins, was at the very top of his field, as per Tony’s request (demand). And he had a pretty good success rate with placing kids in homes that would eventually adopt them. The man had, fortunately for themc became available to take on another case just yesterday, after having had one of the children in his care adopted into a family. Despite the information, Tony wasn’t going to trust the man until he met him.

“Hey, kid. I just got a text telling me they’ve found you a new case worker, he should be meeting us here after your appointment.” Tony relaid the information as he unbuckled his belt and slipped on some sunglasses in a shitty attempt to be less recognisable, even though, really, he wore them so often in public it’d probably be harder to identify him without.

Peter had also been unbuckling himself, but paused to process the words and what that meant. So Mr Chase wasn’t his social worker anymore, and he’d have to meet a new one… He felt horrible for being relieved at the thought of not seeing Chase anymore. He shouldn’t be happy at the misfortune of others. The idea of having to meet another person sent a shiver up his spine though. It was the same fear he felt every time he was taken to a new placement, wondering what they’d be like and if they’d be worse than the last. At least he didn’t have to live with the social worker, right? But they were in charge of where he went…

He glanced up at Tony, who had pulled the sunglasses to the edge of his nose and twisted in his seat to look at him, letting Peter see the worry in the man’s eyes. “You good?” He asked softly, and Peter nodded even if that was clearly a lie. Tony wasn’t going to push him though. “Let’s get this over and done with then, kiddo.”

Peter followed lead and got out of the car, trailing after Tony as he walked into the building.

He ducked his head at all of the people sat in the waiting room, and Tony seemed to notice as he ushered him forwards with an open arm. The man wasn’t expecting Peter to run into him like it was a hug, he was only calling him over, but he’d happily accept the kid pressed into his side, using him as a human shield from everyone else. He slung his arm over the boy’s other shoulder and walked them over to the receptionist desk.

Peter wasn’t sure what he was thinking when he flung himself into Tony like that.

He hadn’t gotten any red flags from either him or Pepper, when usually he would have at least noticed something was off after this many days of being with someone. They’d been kind, but not in the weird overbearing way. Not in a way that was clearly a façade to get him to trust them before they hurt him. And not in the way some people did when they saw him as a project to fix, just to throw him out when he became too much and they realised he couldn’t be fixed. They’d worked hard to include him and make him feel comfortable, but they hadn’t pushed.

He’d really wanted a hug and it wasn’t like Mr Stark could hurt him with this many people around to see it. And he was definitely safer than strangers- the biggest threat was the unknown, as it goes. He just hoped he didn’t get himself into trouble later, but Tony hadn’t hurt him for crying on him the other day and that was after he’d discovered he cut himself. So maybe this was okay? Unless of course he was adding fuel to the building fire until it exploded in his face, in which case he was screwed.

Still, out of all of the people to grow attached to of fucking course it had to be the couple who weren’t even keeping him.

He kept his eyes squeezed closed as they arrived at the desk, letting Tony talk for him because he just wouldn’t be able to with this many strangers around. When he’d gone to the hospital with Chase, the man had pressured him into speaking for himself and then smack talked him to the receptionist when he’d refused to do so. Maybe he wasn’t totally wrong in being glad he didn’t have to see Chase anymore?

“Hello, do you have an appointment?” The lady at the desk asked, she looked tired, she’d probably been on a shift last night.

“Yeah, I’ve got Peter Parker here, who has a checkup at…” he didn’t know what time the appointment was for. “Sometime around now.”

The lady clicked at the computer, probably searching for his name, before looking at them again. She glanced Peter up and down, probably wondering why the teen was practically burying himself into Tony, but thankfully she didn’t comment. “You’re just in time, Dr Brians should be ready any minute now if you’d please take a seat.” She gestured to the packed waiting area, and Tony scanned for a place to take the kid with as few people as possible, but his search came up empty. He nudged the boy to get him to look up at him, which Peter did, slowly retracting himself a little so he could blink up at him through fluttering eyelashes.

“Are you okay sitting down by someone or would you rather stand? The doctor shouldn’t be long.”

Peter chewed at his lip as he wondered why he was being asked, but as he looked at all of the big, strong adults that could easily hurt him, his answer was pretty clear. He shyly pointed at the wall where there were no chairs and thus no people. Tony walked them over there, which proved to be quite difficult with the teen clinging to his chest and refusing to let go. He wasn’t about to tell him to stop though, how could he when he was so happy the kid was actually letting him touch him? He was being trusted enough to hold Peter, and it didn’t take an emotional break down this time round either.

Tony leaned against the wall, Peter clutching his shirt like a life line and his forehead pressed against his chest. He patted the teen’s back, prompting a hum from the boy. It only took two minutes for a nurse to come and call Peter’s name, and at that point Peter was still attached to him, and Tony was starting to get a little worried at the behaviour. As they walked, he managed to get the kid to move to clinging to his side instead of his chest so he wouldn’t have to guide him into walking backwards. He paused outside of the door the nurse had indicated to, to try and get Peter to let go of him.

“Kid? Kid, you’ve gotta go in and see the doctor now. I’ll wait out here for you.” He put his hands on the boy’s shoulders to tug him away, but stopped when it prompted a wince of pain on the teen’s face. Peter whined unhappily at him, trying to pull away, even lightly stomping his foot childishly, and geez what was going on with the kid to cause such a sudden change in demeanour?

The teen froze for a moment, and Tony thought that maybe the kid was realising how childish he was acting but that didn’t seem to be the case as the boy instead tried to pull him into the room with him.

“Pete, no. I can’t go in with you.” If he went in then he’d have to explain why he was with the kid and he didn’t want it getting out that Peter was staying with him, as the press would surely hunt Peter down and throw him into the spotlight, and he couldn’t allow that to happen.

Peter blinked at him with wide eyes for a moment, until those wide eyes brimmed with tears and his lower lip wobbled in a sign of sobs soon to come. Sure enough, the boy started crying, and Tony guiltily pulled him back into a hug. Peter was clearly too scared to go in by himself, and Tony should count himself lucky the teen felt safer around him. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’ll come in with you if you want me too.” He succeeded, and it probably wasn’t the best thing that the kid could convince him to do anything just by shedding a few tears.

Peter nodded quickly and gave him a watery smile, and soon Tony found himself sat in a room with a doctor and Peter, on the examination table right next to the teen because he refused to let go of his neck or look at the doctor.

“Sorry, who are you?” Dr Brians asked, and Tony sighed before slipping off the sunglasses.

“Tony Stark. Peter’s currently in my care.” He could see the astonishment and the questions forming on the doctor’s tongue, but he cut him off. “An NDA will be given to you promptly, until then I trust you’ll keep this information to yourself?”

The man took another moment to gape in astonishment, before straightening himself out into professionalism. “Yes sir, it is policy to keep all of our patient’s data private.”

Tony nodded, before allowing the man to begin checking up on Peter. First came questions.

“So, Peter, have you been taking your medications?”

Tony felt the body tense next to him, and he rubbed his back up and down a few times before turning the teen around a bit on the table so he was facing the doctor a little more. The kid apparently didn’t like that though, and turned his head back to hide it in Tony’s neck.

He got that the boy was scared, but how had he become so clingy so suddenly? It was just the other day he’d been curling himself into a ball to keep as far away from Tony as possible. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel some sort of primal instinct at having the kid so reliant on him though.

“Petey, the doctor asked you a question. You need to try answer him so he can help you.”

He could feel the boy’s lashes flutter against his neck, probably as he opened his eyes, and it kind of tickled. A moment went by, until he felt the teen nodding in response to the doctor’s question, and he patted his back in praise.

It was a good thing they couldn’t see Peter’s face, as the boy flushed bright red in shame at lying, even more so when the doctor wrote it down on a clipboard, making his lie official.

“Good. And would you say the pain medications are working? On this scale where would you put yourself say an hour or two after taking them?” He held out a little plaque with a scale of one to ten and emoji faces showing different facial expressions of pain at each number. It was probably meant for younger kids, but it seemed to do the job as Peter pointed at number three, which showed a face with a little bit of a frown but other than that was fine and shrugging carelessly. Tony wanted to point out that the kid was clearly in more pain than that since he’d winced earlier when Tony put his hand on his shoulder, but thought it best not to bring up in front of the boy.

“That’s good, we can probably take you off of them next week. Now what about the Serotonin? Would you say that’s helped with the depression and anxiety?”

Now wasn’t that heartbreaking, a fourteen year old with diagnosed depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

Tony was pretty sure the fact that the teen was hiding and trembling nervously was answer enough for the anxiety portion of that question. There were loads of different treatments for mental illnesses, some worked for certain people, some didn’t. They probably needed to try the kid on a different course of pills because the serotonin didn’t seem to work for Peter.

Peter shakily shrugged, and the doctor pursed his lips as he studied the boy thoughtfully. “I’m going to put down no, is that alright, Peter?”

The boy nodded in agreement.

“I’m going to need to do a blood test to check if the iron tablets are working and if the anaemia’s wearing off. But first I need to know if you’re eating and sleeping well?” He directed the question to both Peter and Tony, glancing between the both of them.

Peter just shrugged in reply, and Tony rolled his eyes at the unhelpful answer. “He uh, he got in a pretty good sleep yesterday night but other than that he doesn’t get much.” Tony informed for him, feeling a little guilty at the betrayed look the teen shot him. “And as for food, we try to make sure he eats as much as possible.” They hadn’t had much success in that though, yesterday had literally been the first day the kid had had a proper dinner with them.

Tony leaned over to try to see what the doctor wrote down, wanting to know if it was about him and feeling a little judged, but the man didn’t let him see. After a few moments he stopped writing.

“Right, well I could prescribe him some sleep medications, but we wouldn’t want to make him reliant on those.” The doctor said as he flicked his pen in thought. “The other pills and anaemia have drowsiness and fatigue as an effect, so you shouldn’t really be having much trouble going to sleep. Do you take them right before bed?”

Peter nodded, again lying, not that it really mattered. It didn’t matter how tired he was, most of the time he couldn’t go to sleep because of what he saw when his eyes closed or the overwhelming fear that something would happen to him when he was unconscious.

“You’ll just have to try your hardest to fit in as much sleep as possible. Maybe do things that relax you before bed. Read a book, try some breathing exercises, have a hot bath.”

Tony rolled his eyes at the generic advice that never actually worked. Peter had pulled away from him a bit, and it didn’t pass Tony’s notice the way that the boy kept bringing his thumb up to his lips, pressing it there as though he wanted to put it in his mouth, before ripping it back away. The teen had a lot of bad habits that Tony had picked up on, but he’d never seen him suck his thumb. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but ever since they’d gotten to the hospital Peter had been acting like a much younger child.

There were a few more questions, until the doctor moved on to checking the kid’s collarbone and taking some of his blood to test. After Tony had managed to get Peter to sit on his own for the doctor to do this, he kept seeing him do that weird action moving his thumb to his mouth just to move it back. Peter was fine letting the doctor take a blood sample, just squeezing his eyes closed and clenching his fists, it was when he went to look at the teen’s broken collarbone there was a problem.

As the doctor instructed him to lie back, touching the top of his arm to do so, Peter completely flipped out. Letting out a horrible cry, and digging his nails into the doctor’s arm to get him to let go.

“Pete, Peter.” Tony stepped forward to calm him, but any clinginess the kid had had a minute ago had apparently ended, as he scrambled to get away from both of them with a shriek. “Kid, it’s okay. Neither of us are going to hurt you.”

He’d pulled his knees up onto the bench, crying into them.

“Pete, can you look at me please? Hey.” The soft and pleading tone he was using must have been enough to convince the boy to look at him, always wanting to please.

He didn’t look disconnected from reality, so at the very least Tony knew he wasn’t having a flashback and was aware of his surroundings. A man making him lie down had probably given him a justifiable scare. “He’s just looking you over to make sure your shoulder’s healing, okay? No one’s going to hurt you, I won’t let ‘em.”

Peter whimpered, resting his chin on his knees, and glancing over at the doctor. The slight tremor that had been running through his body since arriving had picked up to full on shaking, as his eyes shot back to Tony and he muttered something that sounded like ‘sorry’.

“Hey, now. It’s alright. What d’you say, are you going to let him look you over?” Tony stepped closer, just to step straight back again when the action made the teen flinch.

Peter took in a shuddery breath, knowing that there was no way to get out of this and that the doctor was only doing his job, he eventually nodded. When the doctor stepped closer and he whimpered again, Tony did something that shocked both the teen and doctor, shock probably being his main aim as it left Peter too busy gaping at him to worry about what the doctor was doing.

“Livin’ easy. Livin’ free. Season ticket on a one way ride.” Tony began to sing shamelessly, holding his hand in front of his mouth like he was holding a microphone. “Askin’ nothin’. Leave me be. Takin’ everything in my stride.”

After the initial shock and awe, the mediocre singing and ‘purposely’ cheesy dance moves had Peter giggling on the table he was now lay on, too engaged to realise that the doctor was taking off his sling.

“My friends are gonna be there toooo.” As the beat where the tempo increased into the chorus started, and Tony jumped from foot to foot with each ‘duh duh duh duh’ of the drum, Peter was in hysterics, a beaming grin lighting up his face. “I’m on the hiiiiighway to hell, DUH DUH, hiiiighway to hell.”

It continued like that, Tony singing, Peter giggling, and every time the doctor did something to prompt the teen’s attention, Tony would do something drastic, often leading to him bumping into stuff, to get it straight back.

Peter probably thought he was crazy, but oh well.

Dr Brians managed to get a scan to X-ray the boy’s arm, and by the time that was done the blood results had come back. As soon as the doctor stepped away from him, Peter had sat up and pulled his shirt sleeve back up to fully cover himself once more, before looking at Tony with the remnants of the beaming grin he’d had a second ago, now a soft smile.

Before Tony could say anything, the doctor cleared his throat to read out the results, and two pairs of matching eyes turned to look at him. The doctor had to do a double take at how similar they both looked. Peter was fostered so they weren’t related, were they?

“Your scapula seems to have been worsened, do you know how you could have strained it? Have you been using that arm a lot or banged your shoulder recently?”

Peter had a crazily good deer in the headlights look, his wide brown eyes and tilted head perfecting it to the point that Tony was tempted to start calling him Bambi. In truth, the boy hadn’t been wearing it nearly as often as he should, and he and Pepper had been pretty lenient with it. Which was out of character on Pepper’s behalf, as she’d had hour long rows with him whenever he refused to look after himself, but he supposed that she was walking on egg shells around the boy just like he was.

The amount of times he’d seen the kid use that arm came back to him in a sudden flash, and he suddenly felt like a very crap carer. He hadn’t told him to stop and now the kid had worsened his injuries. Well fucking done, Tony.

At both of their lack of answers, the doctor sighed and carried on. “You need to make sure you wear the sling all day, only take it off on the night or if you really have to to limit the strain of using it.” He paused for a moment to let that sink in to both of them, eyeing Tony to make sure he’d heard it more than Peter, as he was the adult who was responsible for making sure the kid stuck to it. “As for your blood test, you’re still dangerously low in proteins and iron. It normally takes one to two months to get enough iron to get over anaemia, but if you don’t start eating properly- three healthy meals a day- it’ll slow down the process. And if your vitamins haven’t gone up by next week’s appointment I’m going to have to seriously consider giving you an IV.”

Both Peter and Tony shivered at that, the thought of him having to have a tube inserted into his veins. Tony would absolutely hate himself if he drove the kid into needing one of those. From now on, they’d have to be more strict with him on his eating and sling.

That was pretty much the end of the appointment, and just as they were about to go back down to the waiting room and wait for this new social worker, Tony had the idea to ask the doctor if they could wait in a private room for him, which was allowed when he slipped the man a hefty sum.

~~~~~

He had been concerned and confused when the teen had been clinging to him earlier, but now, as they sat on opposite sides of the room, Peter avoiding eye contact with him, he missed it.

He peered over to see what the boy was doing, as it looked like something was in his hands. He was both heart-warmed and heart-broken to see him flicking at the elastic band he had given him. Heart-warmed, because it meant that the technique was working, he had helped the kid in however small a way, but heart-broken because he knew that he was doing that to fight the desire to inflict other less harmless pain on his body. He wondered not for the first time what was going through the teen’s mind.

It wasn’t long after that when the door was pushed open, making Peter fling himself across the room and plonk himself down next to Tony. He didn’t curl up into him like he had earlier but he did try to hide himself behind him from whoever was coming through the door.

A kind looking man, who looked to be around late thirties to early forties, followed by a nurse, who must have just been showing him there, walked in. And Tony stood to his feet when he realised that this must be Collins.

“And here I was worried I wouldn’t be able to recognise you. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr Stark.” The man said as he reached to shake Tony’s hand, before looking behind him at Peter, who was eyeing the new person fearfully. “And you must be Peter, it’s nice to meet you.”

He didn’t try to reach for Peter’s hand, just gave the boy a small wave, as though he knew the physical contact from him this quickly wouldn’t be appreciated.

“I’m sorry I took so long, but I stopped off to pick up your next prescription.” He said, holding up the medication bag. He held it out for the teen to take with a smile, but all Peter could do was blink at the offered hand.

So far this Collins guy certainly seemed better than Chase, if a little chatty. At least he was including Peter in conversation, despite having likely read a file that told him he didn’t talk. Chase had only spoken to the teen in condescending tones, and otherwise talked like he wasn’t even there, so Tony was pleased to see the man at least treated the kid like a normal human, as he should. Just because he didn’t talk didn’t mean he wasn’t there. And once he did start talking, and even without words, he had quite the lovely personality.

Peter accepted the bag eventually, only using the tips of his fingers to take it in order to avoid and minimise coming too close to the man’s hand. It didn’t escape Tony’s notice how guiltily the boy looked down at the pills, his face paler than usual.

Tony decided to store that information down for later, as he moved to stand between Peter and the man to introduce himself. “Good to meet you too, Collins. Thanks for picking those up.” You better hope you meet my unrealistic expectations for that kid ‘cause I am not letting another Chase walk into his life.

“Please, call me Ben.” He replied in turn, and Tony knew the reaction Peter would have to that name before he even looked. Sure enough, the boy had a full body flinch, his eyes widening and you could literally see the hurt there.

Tony wanted to know who the hell this Ben was and what he had done to make Peter look so sad every time his name was brought up.

Tony didn’t say anything in turn, not wanting to bring up that name again in front of Peter, but offered the man a tight lipped smile.

Collins looked at Peter again, wanting to extend the boy an olive branch to get him to open up. “Say, it’s coming up to lunch time now, and I know the best sandwich place not far from here. What d’you two say, wanna go for a bite? It’s on me.”

With Tony’s new resolve to make sure Peter ate a good three meals a day no matter what, he accepted the invitation for the both of them.

Once they got to the small corner shop named ‘Delmar’s Deli-Grocery’, and Tony had managed to get the kid to eat a full sandwich (which actually proved quite easy, as Collins was right, the sandwiches were pretty amazing) he of course insisted he payed. But the fact that Collins actually put up a fight to pay for them gave him a lot of good credit in Tony’s book, to know that he did genuinely care and was thoughtful enough to pick up the boy’s prescription and offer to dip into his own money to make sure Peter ate.

They parted ways not long after, Collins giving both Tony and Peter his private number, telling the teen that should he ever need to contact him he could.

So far, Ben Collins? A lot better than Chase.

Tony just hoped it would stay that way.

Chapter Text

Once they got back home, Pepper was waiting for them in the living room, and Peter gave her a small smile before running off upstairs to take the bag with his pills to his room.

Tony gave her an overview on what the doctor had said- whilst giving Morgan plenty of kisses, as that had been the longest he’d been away from her since her birth- and Pepper looked just as guilty as he felt by the end of it. Upon hearing that Peter was on the verge of needing an IV, she’d immediately moved to go to the kitchen, probably to prepare the kid a three course meal, which is when he told her that they’d already eaten lunch with the new social worker.

After answering the thousands of questions she'd had on whether Collins was nice to Peter, said boy came back downstairs. They went down to the lab together, Tony claiming that Peter deserved a reward for today even though really he just wanted an excuse to spend more time with the kid. Peter had been hesitant at first about being alone with him in an enclosed space, but his excitement from yesterday combined with the man’s promise that both of the doors down there would remain open, won him over.

The fact that he hadn’t been hurt while down there alone with him, even after having acting up today, quickly won Tony more of the boy’s trust and- unbeknownst to the man- adoration in the kid’s big heart.

~~~~~

It was the next day, Tony and Pepper were playing with Morgan but Peter had stayed upstairs, which they were fine to let him do. Teens needed alone time, just like everyone else, though it did leave Tony feeling uneasy, knowing more about the kid’s unhealthy habits than Pepper did.

That was when the phone call that had the potential to change the course of the rest of their lives came through.

Pepper looked at Tony in question as he picked it up to see who it was.

“It’s the new guy.” He said as he saw the name Collins pop up. He didn’t think much of it, really. Maybe the man was just checking he had the right number. Or, if he really wanted to impress Tony, he was just checking in to see how Peter was doing. Oh how he was wrong. Pepper moved over to sit by him so she could listen, wanting to hear what this Collins guy was like for herself.

“Stark?” The man’s voice asked over the phone. Since Tony had refused to call the man Ben, he’d refused to call him Tony in return. Which was fine by him, they weren’t friends, he wanted both Collins and Peter to know that if Collins should turn out to be a shitty person, Tony was on the kid's side. Which didn’t seem to be the case, he was actually okay to talk to yesterday, and repeatedly attempted to include the boy in conversation even though Peter just blankly blinked at him in reply.

“Yeah, hi.”

“Hello, how are you all doing? Is Peter good? He isn’t there is he?”

Tony scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, but he didn’t get to reply before Pepper did. “No, why? Do you want us to call him down?”

“Oh, you must be Mrs Stark! Sorry we didn’t get a chance to chat yesterday. And no, no, I want to talk to you two alone first. You see, I’m calling to tell you both that I’ve found a family.”

It felt like time just stopped in its tracks. Everything in the world, or at least, in their home- which really was the only place that mattered to them at the time- stopped. Pepper and Tony met eyes as the words set in, and then, just like that, the spell was broken. Time started moving again, far too quickly, to a certain gloomy ending that they could now imagine all too clearly in their heads.

“You have? That- that was quick.” Tony stated after swallowing, his throat feeling incredibly dry all of a sudden.

Collins laughed lightly for a moment, which filled Tony with an unreasonable hatred because how could he be laughing at a time like this?  “I’ll think you’ll find sir, that I’m pretty good at my job.”

And now he wished they’d stuck with Chase. But no, no that wasn’t fair to think. That wasn’t fair to Peter and he was, after all, the reason why they’d demanded for a better social worker. Even if Collins could, fortunately or unfortunately, do his job efficiently.

“They’re a nice couple, who’ve been fostering for years and have a specific focus on children with troubled pasts. And, they have a biological son who is Peter’s age and goes to one of the top STEM schools in the country. That would give Peter a familiar, friendly face to help him out around school, if he chooses to continue on the academic route, that is.”

It certainly sounded promising…

Tony’s breathing picked up as he imagined the kid living elsewhere, and Pepper plucked the phone from his hands as he calmed himself down.

“Could we see their file?” She asked in the same tone of voice she used during business meetings, and Tony was so grateful he didn’t have to be the stable one in the relationship.

“Hang on a moment…”

She could hear the clicking of a keyboard on the phone, he was probably checking to see if they were permitted access to those. Which didn’t matter too much, as she was sure Tony could just hack into the systems to find out whatever they wanted if they weren’t allowed.

“I’m not technically supposed to show it to you, but I see no harm in doing so. Plus it’s always good to have another pair of eyes look it over, to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I’ll email it to you right now.”

Pepper knew then and there that she liked this man a lot more than Chase, who had refused to give them Peter’s file even though it could have helped them look after him, and they’d had to push him into giving them the boy’s prescriptions even though that was something he needed.

The email came through and she thanked him, and he said he’d phone back in a few minutes to give them time to read through it. 

So that was what they were doing now. Cuddled together with their baby in between them, as they went through the file.

The Thompsons.

Harrison Thompson was an officer for the NYPD, and his wife, Rose Thompson, was a child psychologist. Between them, they had one biological son, Eugene Thompson, who’d just turned fifteen. They also currently had two foster kids, but their history showed a many number of others, none of which showed any signs of abuse. They were a well off family, but didn’t have the disadvantage of Tony’s fame, and they lived in a nice apartment in a good neighbourhood, just a few blocks away from Midtown School of Science and Technology where their son Eugene went.

Tony knew himself how good that school was, and had no doubt Peter was talented enough to get into it. He deserved to live a normal life, with a normal family, and go to a good school to achieve whatever dreams he had. There was no question about whether the boy needed therapy, and Rose Thompson was a literal child psychologist so she could help him in day to day life. Something that Tony and Pepper certainly couldn't do.

“They… they look good.” He stated, clearing his throat and running a hand through his hair.

Pepper hummed in agreement, before saying the same thing that had been running through his head. “Looks can be deceiving though.”

They were both far too happy to run with the idea that there must be something wrong with the couple. “You’re right. FRIDAY, find out everything you can on Harrison and Rose Thompson.” Dig up as much dirt as possible.

Twenty minutes later, Collins called back, and they had found nothing. Well, nothing of any importance at least, after Pepper told him that apparently they couldn’t persecute someone for getting a detention in high school. They’d also looked extensively into all of the kids the couple had fostered, and there wasn’t any signs of physical abuse, and unfortunately there was no way to know if there was any emotional abuse, because no one ever asked for the foster kids’ side of the story.

“So?” The social worker asked, wanting to know what they thought of the couple that he’d deemed ‘perfect’ for Peter.

“Yeah, yeah, they look good.” Tony admitted begrudgingly, trying to keep his voice steady but couldn’t be bothered to stop his leg bouncing up and down in nerves. He could murder a burger and a night in the lab right about now. “So, umm. What now?”

“They’re ready to meet him whenever. But it’d probably be best to do it soon, so there’s more time to introduce him to them slowly. Not today though, give him time to adjust to the idea first, tomorrow would be good.”

Tony wanted to say that there was no rush whatsoever, as they were willing to keep the kid with them for as long as it took for him to grow comfortable with the Thompsons. But he didn’t. He looked at Pepper, who just shrugged seemingly uncommittedly. “Sure, tomorrow sounds good. Let us just check with Peter first. Will you be picking him up?”

“Yes, if Peter’s alright with it I’ll come get him around twelve? That way maybe he can have lunch with them? Text me.”

“Yeah, will do. Bye.” He hung up on the man before anything more could be said, and looked at Pepper, who had a sour look on her face that he was sure his own probably reflected.

“So… this is it, huh?” She said with a small, sad smile, “we knew it was coming.” That was supposed to be comforting, but it really wasn’t. Yes, they knew it was coming, but they’d both denied the fact as much as they could.

Tony didn’t want to get emotional about it, so he did what he did best and grew distant, humming in response and standing up. “I should go tell him.”

Pepper just watched him go.

~~~~~

“Peter?” Tony knocked on the door in brief warning before walking in, and caught Peter quickly hiding something behind his back and stepping back to the wall.

What was he up to?

Tony narrowed his eyes at the suspicious behaviour, especially the wide eyes- that were probably supposed to look innocent- on the kid’s face. But, really, it was the same look the kid had had earlier at the doctor's. The deer caught in the headlights look. 

“What’s that behind your back, kiddo?” He pointed to where the boy was hiding something, the gesture making the boy flinch and step further back, which led to whatever was in the boy’s hand dropping to the floor. Tony stepped forwards, trying to see what it was while Peter shuffled his feet around trying to hide it. That didn’t work very well though, as Tony caught sight of the drug store bag that now had a bunch of pills spilling out of it.

He was confused for a moment, until he took a double take of the room and saw the other bag on the side, grabbing it without a second thought, to also find it full. So if this bag was full, and that bag was full, then that meant…

“Huh. I’m not sure how you plan on explaining this, kid, but make it good.” Tony leaned back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest as he eyed the teen.

Peter was cowering, shoulders hunched and entire body trembling as he continually shifted his eyes from looking at the floor and trying to steal glances at Tony. Of course, the boy didn’t say anything in reply, just made a quiet whimpering sound out of desperation.

The anger in Tony was quickly building, and while the back of his mind knew he should repress it and not going into a boiling rage in front of the kid, that he should stay calm and talk it through with Peter, he was too furious all of a sudden. Furious at Peter for not taking care of himself and lying about his own health, and furious at himself for not knowing.

Jesus, was the kid not in pain?

“What the hell were you thinking, Peter?” His tone wasn’t loud per say, but it certainly sounded angry and the undertone of disappointment made Peter wince in shame. “You haven’t been taking them, all this time, you’ve been lying to us. And here I was thinking the anxiety pills weren’t working and we had to try you on another course. Oh how fucking stupid I was to trust you to take care of yourself.” He laughed at his own stupidity. How had he let the kid handle something as important as this on his own? He’d thought the teen was old enough and responsible enough to be able to take them in the morning and night, without them hassling him, but evidently not. “Do you not know how dangerous it is to go on and off of meds? You could have had a fucking seizure, kid! Those iron tablets are to keep you from being hooked up to an IV in a hospital bed! They’re there to help you get better. And those ibuprofen pills are the only thing stopping you from being in unbearable pain all of the time. How could you do this to yourself, kid!?”

That was a lot of questions, and Peter didn’t know if he should answer them or not. Thinking Tony would get madder if he stayed silent and thought he was ignoring him, he forced himself to talk. “‘M so-orry.”

Apparently him talking was not a good idea.

“No, you, zip it. I talk, you listen.” He snapped, and those words would later come back to haunt Tony. As would the heartbreak that crossed the boy’s face at being told to be quiet when it had taken him a lot of effort and courage to get himself to finally start talking again after months of near silence.

“I thought you were smart, Peter.” He said, shaking his head in disbelief, and the teen was holding in full sobs by then.

Hearing Tony sound so disappointed in him completely crushed the boy, as he squeezed his eyes closed and tried his very best to block it all out. It wasn’t fair, he couldn’t take his pills, he just couldn’t. Didn’t Tony know that? Couldn’t he understand why? Surely he must have read his file, and therefore knew what he’d attempted to do with a bottle of pills when he was eleven. Why couldn’t he just understand why he couldn’t take them? If Peter trusted himself enough to have them without swallowing the whole box, then he would take them, he’d do anything to make him and Pepper happy, but he just couldn’t. Unless, of course, Tony and Pepper wanted him dead, which… Wait, what if they wanted him dead?

Peter started hyperventilating at the thought, and was only slightly aware enough to hear the last thing the man said as he left.

“Collins found you a new family, let’s hope they have better luck with you.”

~~~~~

Tony knew he’d fucked up. Everything he’d said had been harsh, and whilst most of it had been justifiable in his worry, what he’d said when leaving had been uncalled for. It wasn’t that it was a lie, he did hope that the Thompsons had luck in helping Peter heal, but his tone had been cruel and he shouldn’t have dumped the news that Peter had been found a new family on him like that.

And needless to say, Pepper was rightly furious with him after hearing what he’d said.

“I can’t believe you, Tony! I swear, whenever you think someone’s leaving you you push them away, but you can’t do that to Peter!”

Tony stared at her blankly, second guessing his own reasoning as she lectured him about ‘unhealthy coping mechanisms’. He denied that it was true, he didn’t push people away, and he didn’t ‘think’ Peter was leaving, he knew he was. He was going to lose the kid, and he deserved it. After all, what kind of spiteful asshole takes his emotions out on a kid just because he didn’t want him to go to another place? He should be happy Peter was getting into a good home. (Well, he’d only be going with them provided he gets along well with the Thompsons and they didn’t find anything wrong with them, but still).

Tony groaned and sat down, Pepper still standing in front of him with a disapproving glare. “You can’t push him away just because you’re afraid of getting hurt when he leaves. That’s not fair, he doesn’t deserve that.” They’d gotten more of Peter’s trust then they’d originally imagined they ever could, and Pepper was not about to let Tony throw it away. She herself was heartbroken at the prospect of him leaving, but she’d do her very best to keep a brave face on and support Peter.

Tony hadn’t been doing it to protect himself, had he? His reasoning had been justified, he was angry at himself for not making sure Peter had been taking his medications, and was worried about what repercussions that could cause to his health.

He just wished he had sat down and approached the subject more calmly, because, now that he thought about it, surely the kid must have had a reason for not taking the pills to make him better and take away the pain. Peter couldn’t have just forgotten to do it, as he and Pepper always asked him if he’d taken them and he always said yes. So unless this was another way to harm himself that he’d conjured up, there was probably a reason.

“I know. I know, I’m sorry. I freaked out.” Tony rubbed at his head, he wanted to apologise to the kid too but he didn’t know how.

“Well you know what you have to do now, don’t you?” Pepper asked without a hint of pity on her face, she was far too exasperated for that. He looked up at her in question, so she deliberated. “Get your ass upstairs, and make it right.”

Suddenly Tony’s mask dropped as he broke, muttering the horrible truth of “He probably hates me now. He won’t want to see me.” He won’t talk to you ever again now, because you told him to stop talking. You destroyed his trust.

Seeing him finally show some remorse for his actions, softened her a little bit, as she replied in a much calmer tone. “Then it’s a good thing we have all night. Now go.”

Chapter Text

Tony knocked softly on the boy's locked door. Locked, for the first time in days, all because he'd gone and ruined everything by being a jackass. 

He could hear crying coming from the room, and it crushed Tony to know that he had been the cause of the teen's heartache. 

"Peter?" he called, but received no response. Only a brief pause in the boy's crying as he was likely startled by his voice. Startled or scared, Tony wondered, as he had, after all, given the boy plenty of reason not to trust him any more. The crying and quiet whimpering soon started up again, there was no other reply to Tony, the man who had worked so hard to be worthy of hearing the kid speak, just to throw it back in the boy's face. 

‘Zip it. I talk, you listen.’

He sighed, pressing his forehead against the door. He wanted to make it right, but he couldn't push the kid to talk to him if he didn't want to. Pepper would probably do a better job at comforting the kid, and telling him about what was going to happen tomorrow... He should tell Pepper to talk to him, if Peter didn't want to hear from him then he shouldn't pressure him. He knew Pepper was going to be less than pleased when she found out that he hadn't actually talked to the boy, but oh well. 

He didn't even say anything to the teen as he stepped away from the door. Not so much as a sorry or a goodbye. 

~~~~~

Pepper was not pleased when her husband came back down having done nothing to talk to Peter. She didn't bother chastising him, and instead she walked straight past him, giving him the metaphorical cold shoulder, and went to check on Peter herself. She'd long since learned that silent treatment- not engaging or giving Tony a reaction- was the most affective way to get him to do what she wanted. She could shout and yell until her throat hurt, but it wouldn't get anywhere as he'd only get defensive and then a full blown argument would start. It was hard to beat him in a game of words. Silent treatment, however, while childish, would give the man time to feel guilty and reflect on his behaviour, and he'd have to find her when he was ready to apologise. Done and done. 

She knocked on the door of Peter's room, hearing the pause in his cries as he processed the sound, just like he had with Tony. Except she didn't back out at the lack of response. "Sweetie? It's just me, can I come in and talk to you?"

The fearful gasp she could just about make out was obviously a no, so she resigned herself to sliding down the wall and sitting by the door. "Okay, well, could I talk to you from out here? Maybe we could text?" 

She didn't have the boy's number saved on her phone, but she knew Tony had added both hers and his to the teen’s phone incase Peter wanted to contact them for any reason. Not that she needed his number saved, as what other unknown number would be texting her 'I'm sorry' at that precise moment?

"Oh, sweetheart. Don't be sorry, it's okay. We're just both worried about you, we want you to get better." she said as she saved his number to her phone. She heard him whimper at the response, but after a few moments it was clear she wasn't going to get another response. So, she text the boy instead. She wasn't going to question him on why he hadn't taken his medications, as he definitely had had enough of that topic for one day. Plus there were other important things they needed to discuss. 

Pepper: Did Tony tell you what's supposed to be happening tomorrow?

A few moments with no response, until-

Peter: No

Of course he hadn't, he'd only told the kid a new family had been found but hadn't bothered to expand on that. The poor boy's mind was probably running wild. 

Pepper: Well Mr Collins told us about this family, the Thompsons, who really want to meet you. They look really nice, and were wondering if you wanted to get to know them over lunch tomorrow. It's completely up to you, how does that sound?

The next reply took even longer than the others, to the point where Pepper was about to say something to the teen again before being flooded with a string of panic infused messages.

Peter: Sure

Peter: That's fine

That reply should not have felt like a slap to the face, yet it did. The logical part of her brain knew he was obviously lying about being okay, as he'd been nothing but anxious and paranoid so far around people, and there was no way he'd be this calm about meeting a new family. However the emotional, hormonal wreck she had been since giving birth made her want to cry and cling to the teen and refuse to let anyone near him ever again. 

Peter: When do I have to go?

Peter: Are they getting me?

Peter: Will you and Tony be there?

Peter: Will I be staying with them tomorrow?

Peter: Thank you so much for everything by the way

Peter: Really

It was weird talking to the boy without hearing the nervousness he felt in every word in the form of a stutter, and it really went to show how toneless texts were. Yet somehow, you could still feel a bit of the teen's anxiety through the tyranny of questions and each racing thought being put into separate messages. 

"Slow down, honey. It'll only be a short lunch, Collins is coming to pick you up around twelve, and then you're coming back here unless... Unless you want to stay with them tomorrow." Please don't, please don't leave us, not so soon, not so suddenly. "Does that sound alright?"

Another pause, as the boy debated his response.

Peter: Yes

Peter: Thank you

She smiled before telling him it was no problem and proceeding to make light small talk for a little while, unsuccessfully trying to get him to talk again after that day. 

If she never got to hear the teen’s voice again because of Tony, she was going to kill him.

She knew it was a lost battle trying to get the boy to come out and have some dinner, but it was worth a try.

~~~~~

Guilt was a very powerful motivator. And throughout the day it motivated Tony to be unable to sit down for more than five minutes, prevent him from focusing on any projects to take his mind off of it, and instead pace the corridor outside of Peter's room, pausing outside of the door every now and then to listen for any noises from the kid. 

That was until Pepper snapped at him to come downstairs and take care of his baby, as if he was too stubborn to apologise to the kid then he had no right to stand outside the boy's room feeling sorry for himself. 

By three in the morning the next day, Pepper was, of course, in bed. As Tony and- certainly- Morgan should be too, yet guilt also had a way of keeping people awake. Morgan didn't seem to mind the early morning cuddles and chit chat she was getting though, and was happy to be snuggled on her father's chest. Tony would probably hate himself in the morning for drinking while holding the precious infant, but it was only one glass to take the edge off, not nearly enough to risk him causing any accidental harm to the baby. He would never let it get that far, would never be like Howard. 

Still, the drink did work in making him a little more emotional at the early hour, as he spilled his heart out to the little girl and FRIDAY on the floor of his lab where they were cuddled. 

"I don't know what to do. I- I want him to stay, but he deserves so much better. I can't look after him, I think today more than proved that." he grumbled out loud, despite having said something along the same lines around twenty times by then. It was obviously aimed more to FRIDAY, but Morgan took it upon herself to scrunch her face up as though in annoyance, and babble at him. Was it crazy to think she looked and sounded like Pepper when she was telling him off? Probably, but it seemed accurate given the situation. If Morgan was aware of what was going on, then she probably would be mad at him for upsetting Peter. Peter, who the infant had certainly taken a shine to, and would likely be an amazing big brother for the baby if given the chance. Tony wondered how old the Thompsons' foster kids were, if they were younger or not. That would be nice, because the teen was certainly more relaxed around little ones, and, from what Tony had seen, was definitely a natural with them. 

"Talk it through with him, boss. Tell him why you were angry."

God, how did women make this stuff sound so simple? Maybe it was, maybe he was the one making it difficult. Why couldn't he just say 'Hey kid, I'm sorry about earlier. I only freaked out because the thought of you getting hurt on my watch makes me feel physically sick, and I don't need it on my conscience' ? 

"It's not that easy, Fri... Whatever, it doesn't matter, he's going to meet the Thompsons tomorrow and if that goes well he won't need me." he groused, as he shifted on the floor where he sat, patting Morgan's back when the movement disturbed her. 

Her little mouth opened in a big yawn, and Tony hummed at the cute display, the vibrations making the infant snuggle closer to his chest if that was possible. She was perfect, his perfect baby girl. He’d make sure to never upset her like he did Peter. He kissed her cheek, making her eyes open again to blink up at him. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you from your sleep with all my silly grown up stuff, little princess. Let's get you to bed." He stood himself up, Morgan making an 'oooh' sound in agreement. 

He quietly walked through the house, pushing open the nursery door and turning on the twinkly lights on the wall so he could see what he was doing. He swaddled her in her blanket and pushed down the side of the crib to gently transfer her from his arms to the crib. 

She whined for a moment at the change of scenery, but quietened when Tony turned on the crib mobile so it played a soft tune, and the unicorns attached to it spun slowly in a circle.

He leaned down, sweeping some of the soft baby hairs to the side, before sighing. “Oh, Morgan. Your dad's really a fuck up. I wish you had the chance to have a better father like Peter will do, but," he’d thought people were crazy when they spoke about ‘new baby smell’, but he totally got it now. It was intoxicating. "I'm afraid I'm the best you're gonna get. I swear, I'll do whatever it takes to make the world safe and sound for you." then, he placed a soft kiss to the infant's cheek, the baby cooing contently as her eyes fluttered closed. Tony pulled away, hands resting on the edge of the crib to look down at her until he was sure she was asleep, mouth open and arms sprawled out like she always did. 

He was so lucky, and frightfully underserving, to have this little girl in his life. At least, he knew, Morgan had the world's best mother to fall back on should he fail just like his father had. 

He stayed for a little while longer once the baby had fallen asleep, listening to the soft puffs of breath she let out. 

He knew he had to leave her to sleep, despite wanting to wake her up again so he could have cuddles. He kissed his hand and placed it on her forehead, before stepping away.

He had another kid to check on.

He wasn’t even going to bother try going to sleep, there’d be no point in it. The only thing that could alleviate at least a little bit of his guilt would be to stay outside the boy’s room and make sure everything was alright. So that was what he did, for two hours, he stayed in silence with his head pressed against the door, taking comfort in the fact that the teen, at least, was getting some sleep. 

That was, until, the silence was broken with such suddenness, and in such a terrifying way, that it made Tony half certain his heart had given out.

Peter was screaming. And while this wasn’t the first time this had happened, and he knew that this was likely a nightmare, it was nonetheless frightening.

His immediate reaction had been to slam the door down, but the screams picking up when he yelled reminded him of how much worse that had made things last time. 

~~~~~

He'd gone to bed like it had been any other night, saying good night to his aunt and uncle, receiving a kiss on his forehead and a ruffle of his hair as he hugged the two before going to his room and slipping under the covers of his twin bed. He'd opened the window in his room, because it was quite a warm night, and he liked listening to the noises on the street outside. He'd then played on the Nintendo 3DS he'd been given on his eleventh birthday two weeks prior, before going to sleep not long after, not knowing that the next time he woke up, his life would be oh so much different. 

Yelling had risen him from his sleep, his uncle was yelling, and his aunt, his aunt was crying. Like any child would, Peter had pulled the covers up to his chin, heart thumping as he tried to discern what was going on, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, startled and confused. At first he thought his uncle was yelling at his aunt, but quickly crossed that theory out as no matter how angry Ben would never yell at his aunt like that.

"Get out! Get out before I call the cops!" he'd heard Ben yell, but something must have happened, as after a small clicking sound the next words he heard his uncle say sounded much more scared and a lot less angry, "Just take whatever it is you want and go!"

May was pleading with whoever it was his uncle was talking to, and the fear in  both of their voices- in the voices of the adults who, not too long ago, Peter believed had no fear, and would crawl into their bed after a nightmare- had him paralysed to the spot. 

He heard heavy footsteps, and, if he listened carefully he could tell that they weren't his uncle's. Suddenly all of his childish fears of monsters coming in the night became much too real, fears he'd not too long ago only just grown out of, as his imagination ran rampant on who could possibly be just down the corridor from his room. His room which had the door wide open, open for anyone to walk past and see him. His room which was dark except for the dim street lights coming in through the window from outside. He wanted to reach for his lamp and turn it on, but he couldn't move. Too afraid a monster would grab him if he did. Or that the monster just around the corner from his room would see the light turn on and come after him. 

The sound of his aunt's crying and begging filled his room and, surely, the whole apartment, for seconds that felt like hours. Yet once those seconds were over, and Peter heard the same unfamiliar footsteps once again, time moved too quickly. The footsteps were getting louder, as though they were getting closer to his room, a thought confirmed when he heard his uncle yell "don't go down there!" in panic. Whoever it was  didn't heed his words, as they continued to get closer and closer to the room Peter hid in. 

"Hey!" Ben Parker didn't get to finish that sentence, as the next thing that filled the apartment was the loud bang of a gun, and the sickening sound of his uncle's body hitting the floor with a deafening thump. Peter didn't know what happened, didn't move to look, just stayed frozen in his bed like the scared child he'd claimed not to be anymore. 

"No! Ben! Ben!” May screamed, and Peter's thoughts being confirmed that it was in fact his uncle who hit the ground made the tears previously clouding his vision begin to fall. He waited, straining his hearing for any reply from Ben, but there wasn't one. Footsteps started up again, but this time it was his aunt who threw herself in-front of the intruder, to stop him from getting to her nephew's room. They were right by the door, it sounded like, and he could see two shadows reflected on the wall. "Don't go in there! Don't hurt him, please! He's only a child, just leave us alone! Please!" 

The intruder didn't speak, only worked with intent, shoving his aunt out of the way, into the wall, creating another bang which sounded too much like his uncle's body. 

The sight of the masked burglar standing in his door way, gun in hand, was one he'd never forget. It was every child's fear come to life, and as he watched his aunt throw herself on him, trying to pull the man away from Peter's room, said boy did nothing to help. He couldn't take his eyes off of the mask which, behind it, must hide another human. A human with cold, unfeeling eyes that had watched his uncle hit the floor without any remorse. He watched his aunt attempt to fight the much stronger man, managing to drag him out of Peter's room, and she must have had some victory as next thing he knew his aunt was running into his room, hand extended and holding out her phone. "Call the police, Peter!" 

He accepted the phone into his clammy hand, as his already bruised up aunt turned around and started fighting the burglar who'd come up behind her again. Adrenaline rushed through the boy, having been given something to do, he ran to his cupboard and shut himself in there, trembling hands punching in the numbers of 911. 

"Hello, this is emergency services, how may I help you?"

"Someone's broken in!" the young boy cried, gasping when his aunt was thrown into the cupboard door. "W-we ne-eed he-elp! He h-has a gu-gun!" 

"Okay, okay buddy, I'll get help for you. But first you need to calm down and answer a few things for me. What's your name and where are you right now?” The opperator's voice was kind, trying to get him to calm down so he could better explain what was happening. And Peter took a deep breath to be brave so he could help his aunt. He had to be brave for her. 

"I-I'm Peter. I-I live a-at 20 I-ingram str-reet. I'm- I'm in the cupboard i-in my room." 

"Okay, Peter. Good job, you stay right where you are and on the phone to me. It looks like a neighbour has already called in for you, police should be there in just a minute or two. Do you know if anyone is hurt?"

"Y-yes! I-I think my un-uncle's been shot a-and he's hurting my aunt! Y-you gotta help her! Please!" His voice hadn't yet started to break, so it still had the same high-pitch of a child as he screamed in fear when he heard another loud bang and his aunt cry out in pain. "Please help her! Please!"

"Police are almost there, Peter. I've dispatched an ambulance too, stay hidden, and stay on call."

But he couldn't stay hidden, he couldn't! Someone had to help his aunt! And so, after a deathly silence that seemed to stretch on for too long, the child made the decision to slam open the cupboard door, and run to where his aunt now lay in the middle of the battle sight his room had become. He turned her over, to face him, and gasped in relief to find her still alive and breathing. 

May blinked up at him sluggishly, a small smile on her face as she lifted her hand to place on his cheek, like she had done so many times before. That was when he noticed the blood covering her hand, and, looking down he saw her shirt was absolutely soaked in blood from where she'd been shot in the stomach. 

"May," he sobbed brokenly, so very glad to see that she was alive but terrified to see her hurt and bleeding. He looked up at the man standing in the door way, all fear gone as he glared in anger at the person who'd done this to his sweet aunt. "How could you do this!?" he pulled his aunt closer to him, cradling the grown up woman as best as he could in his smaller arms. The masked man stepped towards them, but stopped when Peter yelled "The-the police are going to be here any minute! Go away! Y-you're not al-allowed to hurt her again."

The small eleven year old made less than a threatening sight, curled on the floor with his near dead aunt, her blood now covering his Minecraft pyjamas, tears rolling down his face and hiccups wracking his body. His words really held no power, he just sounded like a weak child who was telling his bully to leave him alone. So really, it was a good thing that the sound of police sirens soon filled the street, as the burglar likely wouldn't have backed away and slipped out of the bedroom window like he had, had it not been for them. The bedroom window that Peter had left open, the window the boy would later find out was how the man had gotten into the apartment in the first place. 

Peter's attention was brought back down to his aunt when the woman, again, brought her hand to rest on his cheek, thumb gently rubbing over his cheek bone. "My brave boy." she whispered, and the love in her eyes would forever be something he'd try to recreate in his mind whenever he needed comfort. "your uncle and I love you so much, so much, our sweet boy."

It sounded far too much like a goodbye, too much like last words, and the boy just wouldn't have it because she had to be okay! "I-I l-love you too, it's going to be okay. The-the police and ambulance are here now. They're probably just coming up the stairs." he hiccuped, rocking them both back and forth and giving his aunt a kiss on her forehead, just like the one she'd given him before he went to bed only a few hours ago. 

May continued to smile at him, sadly, but with so much love. Her eyes started to flutter closed for longer than they should, and just as Peter started to hear the paramedics running down the corridor outside of their apartment, she stopped opening them. "No! No, May, stay with me! It's going to be okay. Ben!" He instinctively screamed for his uncle to help them, but he of course didn't come to their aid as much as Peter wished and hoped he would. The front door was kicked down, voices filling the apartment. "We're here! We're in here!" the boy called them over. She was still breathing, she could be saved, she was going to be okay, she had to be. "May, open your eyes! They're here now! Don't leave me, please. Please don't leave me."

Medics came into his room, tour her away from him, and put her onto a gurney.

Just seconds too late. 

~~~~~

Peter woke up from the nightmare with a strangled scream, not having realised that he’d actually been screaming for the last five minutes. 

He heaved in heavy breaths, scanning his surroundings for the body of his aunt, the blood covering his hands, the blinding lights of the ambulance or the intimidating figure of the masked monster who’d taken everything from him. 

None of those things were there, but it didn’t set in to his petrified, hyperactive brain that he wasn’t there anymore for another two minutes. That he hadn’t been home, hadn’t been with his aunt or uncle in years. Only then did he start trying to recognise his surroundings, trying to understand where he was and what had happened. 

A nightmare. The thought had him laugh pathetically, more a sob than anything, because really, was that all they were now? A nightmare? 

He sob/laughed for a while longer, hating himself for being such a mess. “Don’t leave me, don’t leave me, please don’t leave me.” He choked pathetically to himself, rocking back and forth and having no idea someone was actually listening to him until there was a soft knock on the door. 

“Peter?”

The boy’s head snapped up to stair at the door, expecting to see a murderer, or, Carson, stood in the doorway just to see the door closed. 

“Peter, can you hear me buddy?”

Peter blindly scurried back across the room, crying out when he bashed his shoulder into something hard. 

“Kid?”

The nickname made something click in the boy’s head, his brain trying to figure out where he recognised the voice from. 

Mr Stark! It was Mr Stark. Because he wasn’t with his aunt and uncle anymore, they were gone... And he wasn’t with the Carsons anymore because he’d gotten away. 

He had he had he had.

“Kid, can you put your sling on please?”

Why? Why did he want him to do that? If it was to make him more vulnerable to attack, then jokes on him, if he managed to get through the door Peter didn't plan on fighting anyways. 

He looked around in a daze for said item anyway, in no state to disobey and do anything else. His shoulder blade was screaming at him from the blow he’d given it, and he was reminded of the conversation he and Tony had had yesterday. 

‘those ibuprofen pills are the only thing stopping you from being in unbearable pain all of the time. How could you do this to yourself, kid!?’

He had no right to feel so sorry for himself when it was his fault he was in pain to begin with. 

His head was still going over what he’d dreamed of as he leavered his arm into the sling, biting his lip to stop himself from making any noises of pain. 

When done, he banged his head back into the wall, wanting, needing, something to ground him from the horrible memories playing in his head. Memories of the worst night of his life. The night when his entire life had been changed for the worst, only in a matter of minutes. 

~~~~~

Tony was pressed against the door, listening to the boy’s miserable cries. He didn’t know how he was supposed to help him, he had to do something, how could he even call himself a human being and just sit by and leave the child in such distress?

But there really was nothing he could do, not from the other side of the door, not when he only upset the boy more. 

The best he could do was make the kid put on his sling so he didn’t injure himself further, as that bump he’d heard and adjoined cry sounded painful. He had no way of knowing if the kid had actually listened to him though. 

It took another forty minutes for Tony to get his answer. 

The handle on Peter’s bedroom door moved down, someone starting to open it before hesitating. Tony’s eyes stayed glued on the handle, begging, praying, for Peter to push it open. 

His prayers were answered, as little by little the door was pulled open, a tearful teen stumbling out. 

The look on his face could only be described as haunted, a look that told of someone who’d seen and experienced a great many horrors, far more than someone his age should ever have.

Peter’s lower lip wobbled, and next thing he knew the teen let out a sob, collapsed to his knees and fell into the man. 

He cried into Tony’s chest, just like he had at the hospital, except this time the man didn’t immediately wrap his arms around him. 

“‘m sorry. ‘M sor-rry.” The boy weeped, and Tony blinked in confusion. 

He didn’t deserve to have this child in his arms, yet there he was. He didn’t deserve an apology, yet there it was. 

He didn’t deserve to be hugging Peter, and when he finally wrapped his arms around the kid, his father’s words echoed in his mind: ‘you break everything you touch’. 

Now was no different, but Tony refused to let himself believe those words. He held Peter a little bit tighter and promised himself he would never hurt this kid again, would do his best to not break him, not that he could if he tried. Peter was strong and he was resilient. Everything he’d been through, and he was still going. Still had it in him to trust. He was better and stronger than Tony could ever be.

“No, kid. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, for… everything. I just- I don’t know how to love very well.” The words came out of his mouth too quickly for him to stop them, to catch the word ‘love’ and stop it from ever being said to the boy. It wasn’t his right to love the boy, and it certainly wasn’t right to mess with the kid’s feelings and lead him on to believe he could stay with them. 

If he truly loved the boy- and he wasn’t saying he did- then he wouldn’t have hurt him yesterday, wouldn’t have left him crying and waited this long to give him an apology. 

Luckily Peter didn’t seem to notice his slip up, he was too busy soaking Tony’s shirt with tears. 

“I don’t know how to do this, how to parent. I’m trying to learn for you and Morgan but… I just want you to be healthy, kid.” 

Peter mumbled another sorry into his chest, and Tony put a hand on the back of the teen’s head, rocking them both. 

He hadn’t been trying to make the kid feel bad. How had he managed to hurt him even when apologising? 

Tony didn’t say anything else for fear of making everything worse, he just continued to rock them both. The action seemed to be working in calming the boy down, as his crying lessened into sniffles. 

Peter reached up to rub at his red eyes. He missed his aunt and uncle so much. There was always a never ending ache in his heart, but whenever he dreamt about them he was sure to be on the verge of tears for days. He was so tired of crying. 

The rocking motion was really helping. It was soothing, made him feel safer. Reminded him of his aunt, but not in a way that made him more upset. He closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the safety of the man’s arms around him for a moment, until he again felt his eyes tear up. 

Tony and Pepper would be leaving him soon too.

“I-I don’t w-wanna go, umm, g-go with Collins la-later.” He mumbled, half hoping Tony didn’t hear him whilst also half hoping that he did, and wouldn’t send him away. He didn’t want to go.

Tony paused his rocking, but started again when the boy whimpered and shrunk away in fear.

“It’s gonna be good for you kid. You’re going to meet some people, have some lunch, and if at the end of the lunch you don’t like them then that’s fine, you don’t have to see them again. We can keep looking. But if you do… well, then, that’s great. You can- you can start a new life with them.” Tony rest his chin on the top of the boy’s head, closing his eyes. Peter would be better off without him. “You can stay as long as it takes to find a good placement you’re happy with.”

The words were nice, they were said kindly, without a hint of animosity, so why did they leave Peter feeling so crushed?  

Chapter Text

Peter was dressed, but he couldn’t get himself to move to the front door as Collins came to pick him up.  

“Come on, Peter. They’re good people, and no major moves will be happening today. It’s just a visit so you can see if you like them.” Collins assured, but the teen still didn’t move.  

He was stood in the Stark’s living room, said Starks behind him trying to prompt him into going and telling him he’d be alright. 

“Yeah kid, you won’t be moving in with them today, and not at all if you don’t like them.” Tony added, but that still didn’t change the fact that Peter didn’t want to do this anymore. He didn’t want to keep meeting new people, going back to square one, wondering if they’d hurt him more than he’d been hurt before.  

But Tony and Pepper didn’t want him... so he couldn’t stay with them. Peter felt his eyes tear up, and cursed himself. He was so sick of crying. He needed to be stronger, to toughen up. Really, he should be used to this by now, it’s just... he’d never liked a family as much as he did the Starks. There’d been Sandra, who’d come so close to adopting him had she not gotten ill and become considered unfit to care for him. But even with her, despite her not being a physical threat what at her seventy years of age, it had taken him a good month to relax around her. He didn’t know what it was, but he trusted the Starks. He didn’t know if it was the fact that he’d grown up idolising Mr Stark or the little things they did for him like buying him a lock for his door, but he did.  

And he didn’t want to leave.  

Still, he had to. He couldn't stay somewhere he wasn’t wanted, he wouldn’t burden them.  

Peter took a deep breath and closed his eyes to stop the tears from falling, before stepping towards Collins and the front door. He had to go.  

“We’ll see you later, sweetie.” 

“Good luck, kid.”  

They both called to the teen as he stepped out of the door. Peter didn’t look back, didn’t acknowledge them, as if he had, they would have seen the heartbreak on his face.  

The teen stood by Collins’ car as the man bustled about, saying goodbye to the Starks and pulling out his car keys. He was humming something, but Peter was in no mood to figure out what it was as he was too worried about being in a car alone with the man and if he’d have to sit in the front with him. Chase always made him sit in the front, would call him rude and tease him for hiding if he didn’t. But Peter hated sitting in the front, as whenever the person driving reached for the hand brake, he always expected them to put their hand on his thigh, or suddenly start hitting him and he wouldn’t be able to escape. It was exhausting.  

Collins smiled at him as if sensing his worries, before saying “You gonna get in, Parker?” It was discreet but he gestured with his head to the back seat, and that was enough for Peter to open the back door and, after a brief moment of hesitation, slide in.  

Peter normally would have felt bad for ignoring Collins’ continued attempt at talking to him, but he didn’t have it in him to care as he looked out of the window at the increasingly familiar streets. Peter was astonished to find himself in the neighbourhood he grew up in, even more so to realise that if Collins took a left and drove down a block they’d be at his aunt and uncle’s apartment. Home .  

After the nightmare he’d had that night, Peter didn’t know whether he should have been upset or relieved when Collins took a right instead.  

He didn’t know if he could handle seeing it again... 

Peter couldn’t stop the small whimper that came out of him as he rubbed at his eyes as the homesickness, that had never fully left him, overtook him. Thankfully the man didn’t say anything to him, just looked at him worriedly in the overhead mirror.  

He’d only just managed to pull himself together when the car started slowing down, outside of a rather nice-looking apartment block where a family stood outside of it waiting expectantly.  

Waiting for him .  

Oh dear.  

~~~~~ 

Peter sat in the back of the BMW, the suitcase with his stuff in on the seat next to him, and the iron man plushie he’d gotten when he was seven squeezed tightly between his arms. He'd claimed not long ago to have grown out of teddies, but the eleven-year-old was terrified.  

He’d lost his aunt and uncle last week, and since then his life had completely changed. He'd had to pack all of the stuff he wanted to keep, and the rest of it- his whole childhood- was going in a storage unit until he could get it back at eighteen. For the last week when he hadn't been in and out of police stations, getting asked questions about what had happened that night, he’d been staying at his neighbours. Which of course didn't last very long, as Peter didn't know them very well and his twenty-four seven sobbing about how much he missed his aunt and uncle was probably very tiring for them.  

He wasn’t too upset that he had to leave there though, as it hurt so badly to have to be just across the hall from his home, see the door be taped up with police signs, but get blocked by a police officer whenever he tried to run past him into the apartment. Into his home.  

His home where he’d never again come back from school and hear May’s laughter, or smell Ben’s cooking. Where embarrassing photos of him no longer sat on the mantle place, and his toys no longer lay scattered around his room and across the apartment. Where he'd never again hear Ben chide him to tidy up, or May telling him to make sure he did his homework so he wouldn’t have to think about it over the weekend, and they could have a movie night.  

He didn’t have a home anymore. And he didn't have his auntie and uncle. He wanted his auntie and uncle.  

Peter pulled the iron man teddy closer to his face, crying into it.  

He was scared, and lonely, and it felt like there was a hole in his heart.  

Right now he was sat in his social worker, Katie, ‘s car. He didn’t really know what a social worker was, but Katie was really nice and bubbly, and on a normal day she would have been the type of person he’d love to chat all day long with, but at that moment her bubbliness just made him more upset.

She wasn’t in the car with him at that moment though, as she was outside talking to another woman, a woman who Katie said was going to give him a home now.  

He liked the sound of that, he wanted a home.  

He didn’t understand how any place could be home without his aunt and uncle though.  

He sniffled a little more into his teddy, hiccupping as he fought against sobs. The same horrible visions of May and Ben’s dead bodies being zipped into bags and taken out on gurneys playing in his head.  

He’d never have them back again, never be home again.  

All because he left that stupid window open and slept through somebody climbing in.  

It should have been him that died, getting shot would have hurt a whole lot less than this.  

He jumped when Katie pulled the door open, smiling at him. "Come on Petey Pie, there’s someone here who wants to meet you.”  

She held out her hand for him to take as though he were a toddler, and he glowered at it before stepping out of the car. To be fair, the teddy he was clutching probably didn’t help him look too grown up.  

He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, before looking up at the new person. She was rather tall, with a slim build and hair pulled back into a tight bun. A thin smile was on her face and her eyes were stern. Overall, she looked like his strict fourth grade teacher who’d picked on him, and that made him nervous.  

“Peter, this is Miss Hannigan, she runs this group home.” Katie introduced her, and Peter snorted at the name. He was going to make a remark about whether he was little orphan Annie now, but stopped when that thought made his tummy hurt. He'd technically been an orphan since he was little, but only now did that word actually have an effect on him. As up until that point, he hadn’t truly been alone. But now he was.  

Miss Hannigan extended a hand to shake, a grimace on her face when she saw Peter wipe his nose with his own hand first, but he wasn’t in any state to notice. He shook her hand back firmly, just like Ben had taught him to.  

Hannigan stepped to the side so he could see the building where he’d be staying from now on.  

It was a tall, imposing building. Made of cold bricks and surrounded by black iron gates. Peter could see a bunch of boys watching them from the window, and he waved shyly. At his gesture Hannigan snapped her head around to glower at the window, and the boys who were there quickly retreated. Peter frowned.  

So this was now his... home?  

~~~~~ 

Tony and Pepper didn’t speak for a while after Peter left. Left to meet a new family, who pretty soon he’d likely be leaving them for. They just sort of stood where they were in the living room, not knowing what to do with themselves. Both of them hoping it’d go well, for Peter’s sake, but at the same time, selfishly, hoping it didn’t .  

Oddly enough, it wasn’t Tony who ran away first, to lock himself in his lab and deny everything that was going on and how he felt about it. But it was Pepper.  

She excused herself to unpack what little boxes were left to unpack, saying that she was sick of the place being so empty.  

All of the boxes that were left were in Peter’s room, as they hadn't gotten a chance to unload those yet. And maybe, subconsciously, the real reason she wanted to remove all of the boxes from there was in a bid to make the teen’s room as nice as possible, so he’d want to stay.  

Not that Peter needed a nice room to want to do that.  

~~~~~ 

Any selfish desires they may have had about wanting Peter to not like the Thompsons went out of the window, as protectiveness and hurt filled their hearts instead at seeing the teen shuffle back into the house, not two hours later, in a wreck of tears.  

“Oh Peter, sweetie, what happened?” Pepper cooed, striding over to the teen and scanning him for injuries worriedly. As soon as she was close enough Peter fell into her arms and broke down, as Pepper lowered them both to the floor.  

“It’s just a learning curve, kid. It's gonna be alright.” Collins said from behind them, and Tony pinned him with a glare. He’d just walked downstairs to find Peter sobbing on the floor with Pepper, so needless to say he was not happy and wanted answers.  

“What happened? Did they say something to him? Did they hurt him?” Did you hurt him? Tony was prepared to kill someone, if need be, so Collins had better start explaining quickly if he wanted to save his own skin.  

“No, no it wasn’t that. They didn’t even get a chance to talk to him. I think Peter had a bit of a scare when he saw them, as he refused to get out of the car. And he got quite upset when they went to the car window to talk to him, trying to hide. I cut the meeting short after that.” Collins explained, looking at the teen sadly.  

Pepper and Tony were heartbroken at the mental image of Peter crying and trying to hide in the back of the car, all alone, as strangers peered in at him. And Pepper held the boy a little tighter.  

“W-what’s wr-wrong with m-me.” Peter mumbled, sniffling into Pepper’s neck. She moved her hand to cradle his head, pressing a kiss into his hairline.  

“Oh, honey. Nothing's wrong with you. Nothing. ” 

The answer didn’t do much to calm the teen, as he continued to cry into her.  

“It’ll be alright, Parker. As I said, it was just a learning curve. It’ll be easier the next time now, okay?” Collins didn’t wait for or expect an answer, as he turned to Tony. “I’m going to text the Thompsons and see if they want another go at it." He said, walking towards the kitchen to have some privacy.  

Tony stood, watching Peter and Pepper on the floor. Peter was still asking her what was wrong with him, and it was heart breaking.  

He didn’t have to watch the upsetting sight for much longer though, as he was called into the kitchen by Collins.  

“Stark?” 

Tony and Pepper caught eyes for a moment, before he nodded at their silent conversation and went to the kitchen.  

Collins was lent against the kitchen island, and looked up from his phone with a frown when he came in.

“What's wrong? Do they not want to meet up with him again?” Tony hated himself for being hopeful. Peter would probably be so upset if the Thompsons turned him away. He was already asking what was wrong with him, so how would he feel if he found out that the Thompsons didn’t even want to give him another chance and no longer wanted him? 

Tony now felt more angry than anything at the prospect of these people turning away one of the most amazing kids just because he got scared. He’d kill them.

“Nothing is wrong, they just confirmed that they still wanted to go through with it. I just wanted to check if that was what you two wanted.” 

Tony snorted in derision, looking at Ben as though he thought he were crazy. Although there was noticeably also something else in the man’s eyes. "What do you mean, of course that’s what we want.” his voice was toneless, cold, clearly lying.  

Collins sighed, standing up straight from where he’d been leaning against the island, shaking his head as though disappointed. “Peter hasn’t spoken to anyone, no one at school, no one at the hospital, in five months. The Carsons said he apparently spoke at home when they were alone, but there's no proof of that.” 

Tony didn’t know where this was going, but he grit his teeth at the thought of the Carsons. The very people who had led to the kid’s selective mutism. He was furious that the kid was so obviously being hurt but no one had stepped in for seven fucking months. Whether Peter knew it or not, Tony was pretty sure that going mute was the kid’s last desperate plea for help, after having spent two months with those monsters. In a situation where talking and speaking out only got him into more trouble, he’d gone silent hoping that someone would notice and help him. And yet, no one did. No one came to rescue the poor child. Not until he'd been trapped in that house of horrors for seven whole months.  

“So for nearly half a year, no one could get him to speak, and then you two come in, and in under a week he’s talking and trusting you both to touch and not hurt him.” 

That’s not true, he still thinks we’ll hurt him. Tony’s head objected, even as it ran rampant at what he was being told.

Collins again shook his head, eying Tony in a way that would have made him snap defensively had the topic of conversation not been what it was. "He's comfortable with you two. I don’t know what you did, but he trusts you both. I just hope you don't take that trust lightly.” 

Tony blinked at him. He didn’t, he most certainly didn’t take it lightly. He'd been so pleased when Peter started talking to them, and so very worried he’d fucked it all up yesterday. But he hadn't, because that kid was strong. So strong. And he had a big heart, that had been broken yet still had the ability to love and trust people. Tony did not deserve to be in that heart.  

He didn’t respond to what the other man was obviously hinting at, just continued staring at him blankly.  

Collins sighed, running a hand down his face. "Just think about it, Stark. About whether leaving is what’s best for Peter.”  

Tony watched the man leave the kitchen, listened to him tell Peter to keep his chin up and that it would get better, before saying goodbye to Pepper.  

What was best for Peter...  

Chapter Text

Pepper sat on their bed on her laptop, a look of concentration on her face as she read. She was trying to find out if there were alternate ways to get the medications Peter needed into him without pills. She didn’t know why he’d refused to take them, and she wasn’t going to make him explain, since he’d been through so much there could easily be some kind of trauma behind his repellent to pills. Still, she couldn’t let him get away with being sick and in pain, both physically and mentally, all of the time.

He could have a Cortisone shot for pain relief, and they were affective from anywhere between six weeks to six months, depending on certain factors. That sounded like a good choice, as Tony had told her that Peter didn’t seem to mind the needle he’d had at the hospital, so a fear of needles wasn’t a problem.

He could also have an iron dextran injection to treat the iron-deficiency caused by anaemia, and there was a liquid treatment too if he couldn’t have that.

Of course, she’d need to discuss with a doctor whether Peter was able to have these, what side effects they may have, and if the two injections would work okay together. She couldn’t have him feeling even worse, after all.

Alternate treatments for his mental illnesses were a little harder to find. Ketamine could be used if he didn’t respond to medications, but it was given through an IV and so she doubted he’d be allowed one incase they needed to give him an IV for his vitals, which unfortunately seemed likely.

She was just about to close the laptop and see if she could contact Peter’s doctor when an email came in from work. She was, technically, on maternity leave but she clicked on it when she saw it was from Stark Industries’ head publicist. That intrigued her because she only usually got emails from them if Tony had done something stupid and wasn’t answering the emails himself, but he’d been with her for the past few months so she knew he hadn’t done anything. She opened the email.

In it, there were the words ‘is this true?’ with a link to a magazine article below it. Pepper clicked the link and her heart dropped when she saw the contents of it.

‘Tony Stark and Pepper Potts adopt a child only a week after daughter is born?’

Fucking Chase had gone and blabbed about them.

She instantly grew furious as she read everything Chase had said, talking about private information on Peter and some of the things he’d been through, and then going on to paint her and Tony in a bad light by saying how Tony had lost his temper in front of the boy, conveniently leaving out that Tony had only lost his temper because Chase had been a dick. That petty fucking asshole, how could he do this knowing that Peter would get hurt for it?

She could take some comfort in knowing that it was a cheap, unpopular magazine that had been known to make up lies about people (it was probably the only one that would listen to the man). Not many people were likely to believe the story he’d spun, but there was still bound to be some people who took it for truth, and they could only hope that Chase wasn’t stupid enough to give away the location of the lake house to reporters or paparazzi.

She immediately jumped onto damage control, having one of their reporters write a disclaimer to the article saying it was false, and having a lawyer get prepared to sue Chase until he was in the ground.

They also needed to prepare for reporters, and get Peter to a new family as quickly as possible before someone came looking and Peter’s identity was revealed. Luckily the article had only used the boy’s first name, so once the boy was away from them he was safe from the public eye. They just had to get him out quickly before anything else could be spilled, as much as it hurt to think.

She needed a martini.

~~~~~

Flick. Flick. Flick.

Peter had found the elastic band Tony had given him to be rather useful, much to his own disbelief. He hadn’t cut since he’d gotten it, which may have only been a few days but he still felt ridiculously proud of himself. That pride was the only reason he was fighting against ruining the streak now though, as after everything that had happened yesterday and how badly he’d messed up with the Thompsons, he was really struggling to stop himself from finding something sharp.

He also really needed something to keep himself awake, as he was sleepy from the emotions of the day and the full belly he had from Pepper’s cooking. Without even realising what he was doing, he bought his hand up to his arm started scratching it through the fabric, but that wasn’t enough and he soon pulled the hoodie sleeve up.

Peter glanced at the door, knowing he wasn’t alone. He knew that Mr Stark had slept outside of his room last night, and he was doing it again to make sure Peter slept alright. It was a little scary but also comforting to know that he wasn’t alone. It was nice of him, and made Peter smile at the thought that the man cared about him enough to do that, but the teen did worry about his back.

He wondered if Mr Stark would be mad at him for wanting to hurt himself so much, he hadn’t been happy with him the first time round and now he had even less of an excuse since Tony had given him a way to stop wanting to hurt himself. The thought of disappointing the man, again, made his stomach drop, and he clenched his fists to stop himself from scratching.

He lay down on the mattress, wrapping the quilt between his arms to hug it. He went to close his eyes but thought better of it when horrible images appeared in his vision, swallowing down the pit in his throat. Of course, his thoughts immediately went to everything that had happened the other day. To Tony hugging him and apologising to him at five in the morning- even though Peter didn’t deserve an apology- to finding out that the Starks really didn’t want to keep him despite what he’d hoped, and being taken to the Thompsons just to make a complete fool of himself.

Collins said that they still wanted to see him again, but Peter didn’t want to, especially after the way he’d acted in front of them.

Peter curled up on the seat, covering his head with his arms. He didn’t want to meet the Thompsons, and he didn’t want them to see what a mess he was. He'd screamed when Collins asked him if he was going to get out of the car, and now felt horrible about the way he’d acted. The Thompsons had come over to the car to see him at his refusal to leave it, and as they peered and knocked on the window, he had a horrible feeling that he was like an animal on display, and further tried to hide himself. Wishing that the seat would just swallow him whole.

Collins didn’t let them try to talk to him for long, and politely excused them before driving off, sighing and telling Peter that it was alright and that they’d have better luck next time. Peter felt super bad about how he’d acted, and how he’d been so spiteful and childish to not even try to introduce himself to the people that Collins had worked hard to find for him. Chase would have been furious with him, and definitely wouldn’t have allowed him to lock himself in the car and calm down a little like Collins had, and Peter felt incredibly glad that he wasn’t with Chase. He liked Collins, he hadn't even gotten mad at him.

It was just a shame that he could barely look at the man without thinking about his Ben. Peter sniffled in thinking about his aunt and uncle again, and he’d been correct yesterday morning in assuming that he’d be homesick all day after the nightmare he’d had of them. Of the night he lost them.

He missed them.

He bit down on the knuckles of his hand to prevent any noises coming out as he cried, he didn’t want Tony to hear.

He looked around the room again. It was barer than it had been yesterday morning, Pepper having moved out some of the boxes. She’d even taken the time to put his clothes into the draws by the door, and put a bedside table next to his mattress with the lamp- that had previously been sat on top of boxes- on it. He saw his phone on charge on said bedside table, and immediately reached for it as an idea came to mind.

He downloaded Instagram and quickly made an account before heading to the search bar. After numerous combinations of the two names ‘May’ and ‘Parker’, his heart skipped a beat when he finally found the right one. He clicked on the account with a big smile, which dropped as soon as he saw that it was on private. He cried out pathetically, shushing himself when he heard Tony shuffle outside, probably listening in to hear if he was okay. It was three in the morning so he didn’t want the man to know that he was awake, otherwise he’d be disappointed with him. Which was weird, because no one had ever cared whether he slept well before.

He looked back down at the phone, dimming the brightness for extra measure. His heart leaped with joy when he noticed that despite it being on private he could still see her profile picture, and it was a picture of her and Ben. He quickly screenshot it, zooming in so it was bigger and not at all caring when it came out blurry. It was still them. He traced the picture with his finger, every curve of their faces still engrained in his memory. He held the phone to his chest, a soft melancholy smile on his face as he wondered what his life would be like if they were still alive.

~~~~~

“So?”

Tony huffed at Collins’ immediate question as he picked up the phone, knowing what he was asking. Yes, he had though about it, a lot, but it would just be too messy for them to take Peter in. A thought he’d shared with Pepper last night, who’d agreed with him before going on to show him the article Chase had published, which further backed the thought that Peter had to go. Soon, before the vultures had a chance to pick at him.

He knew that Peter was virtually safe at the lake house, since they’d gotten the place specifically for the fact that the public didn’t know about it or where it was so Morgan could grow up safe and happy there. But Chase did know the address, and he’d already proven that he had no qualms about throwing Peter into the crossfire of whatever issues he had with Tony and Pepper because they’d gotten him- rightfully- fired.

Fucking jackass. He should have kicked his ass when he had the chance.

“Are the Thompsons still able to take him in?” Tony asked with a huff, avoiding properly answering the question because he just couldn’t lie and say that they didn’t want Peter. They did, they both really did, they wanted him to stay with them more than anything but they couldn’t keep him without hurting him.

He heard Collins shuffling on the other side of the phone, and could make out a frustrated sigh as he did. Really, Tony didn’t know why the man was so for the idea of Peter staying with them, but he was glad that he didn’t push it any further and accepted Tony’s version of saying ‘I’m sorry, he can’t stay here. I hope the Thompsons can still look after him properly?’.

“Yes, yes they can. If you’re sure.” Collins sounded mildly frustrated, which Tony pulled a face at. “I was thinking though that it might be easier for Peter to meet them in a more neutral place, so he might feel more comfortable. Would you be open to the idea of the Thompsons coming to yours to have lunch with Peter?”

Tony perked up at that idea, wanting the chance to interrogate the people, who’d potentially be taking his kid in, in person. “Yeah, that sounds fine. Not today though, the kid needs a rest. Tomorrow?”

“Yes, that sounds fine Mr Stark. Let me just confirm it with the Thompsons.” Collins went quiet for a moment, before speaking back up to say that they were free to do that.

Tony hung up with a bit of a victorious smirk. He was going to get to meet the Thompsons, and hopefully feel more comfortable with the idea of Peter going to another place where they couldn’t protect him, once he’d actually met the people he was going to be living with.

Even though deep down he knew that no matter how perfect or nice the couple appeared, he would never trust them with the kid.

~~~~~

That day Tony and Pepper took Peter and Morgan for a walk in the woods up to the lake. They didn’t stay outside long, as it was cold out and they didn’t want either of the kids to get sick. But it was nice to get some fresh air, and clear their minds. They’d told Peter about the plans for tomorrow when the teen was having breakfast, but other than that no one spoke about the Thompsons. Or Chase, or what had happened the day before, or Peter not taking his tablets, or the fact that the boy looked absolutely exhausted for someone claiming to have slept the full night.

No one spoke of any of the real world problems that stalked after the poor defenceless kid, who’d find nothing to deserve the life he got. They just walked.

And once they got back, they warmed up under blankets and with snacks and hot drinks, as they buckled down for another afternoon of movies.

Anything to distract the kid from real life for a little while, anything to make him happy.

Chapter Text

Harrison and Rose Thompson were an… interesting couple. While Harrison preferred to observe everything with a critical eye until he felt his input was needed (except from when he’d had a drink), Rose was constantly adding in her input. She was one of those neighbors who knew everyone’s business and made it her business. Still, they both had a knack for looking judgmental- probably without meaning to, as how could someone judge the richest couple in the world’s lifestyle? 

Now, the couple were sat on the love seat together, Collins and Pepper on the sofa and Tony stood by the door glowering. Collins and Rose were gossiping away, the man once again proving himself to be a chatterbox, and Pepper put in polite small talk here and there. She was smiling sweetly, but Tony could tell when that smile of hers was fake, the edges were too sharp.  

Neither of them were happy at the prospect of Peter leaving, and that feeling was showing itself in an unjustified hatred towards the Thompsons, as they blamed them for Peter being taken away, even though it was there choice not to have him stay.  

Tony rolled his eyes when Rose laughed in an annoyingly shrill tone, his scowl becoming more prominent. He looked down when he felt his phone vibrate, having received a text.  

Pepper: Stop pouting, this is our decision.  

He looked over at her in surprise, but she was still talking to everyone as though she hadn’t done anything. He straightened up and walked over to them, at least trying to look less hateful. He had to play nice so he could get them to open up and he could find out if they were hiding anything anyway. He sat down next to Pepper, giving Morgan- who she was holding- a little tickle, before jumping into the conversation.  

“So, tell us about your kids.” Tony said, wanting to know about everyone in the house Peter might be moving into.  

Rose was quick to answer. “Oh, well we have two foster kids. There’s Jessy, who’s nearly eighteen, and Harry who’s sixteen. And of course, then there’s our son Eugene who just turned fifteen. Peter would be our youngest.” It was clear that she was likely the one who wanted to foster, as Harrison just watched her speak with a look of disinterest.  

“Oh?” Pepper asked. She’d been hoping that they had some younger kids, because Peter certainly seemed more comfortable around little ones, but she supposed they hadn’t actually ever seen him around kids his own age before, and he could be fine with them. In fact, it’d probably be a good way for him to make friends.  

“Yes. Speaking of, where is our Peter?” She asked, and Tony stood back up. That was a good question. The teen was currently hiding out in his room, and Tony had said he’d give him five minutes and then go check on him again if he hadn’t come down by then. Those five minutes were just about up.  

“I’ll go get him.” He said in way of an exit, trying not to clench his jaw to the point his teeth cracked at the way she’d said ‘our Peter’. He couldn’t stop the jealousy he felt.  

~~~~~ 

“Come on, kid. I’m running out of excuses here.” Tony sighed, he’d been up to Peter’s room four times now, and each time he’d ended up going back downstairs alone having promised to give Peter another few minutes. But the Thompsons had been there almost an hour now and the boy still hadn’t come out of his room to see them. “Just come downstairs. You don’t have to talk or even look at them if you don’t want to.”  Tony cursed under his breath at the continued lack of a response. Were they going to have to send the Thompsons home? 

Just as he was about to slump back downstairs, an idea came to his mind and he stepped back to the door. "You know... Morgan could do with a bath. She loves splashing around in the water and bubbles. I could use someone to help me but... I guess if you’re not coming out of your room today-” he should probably be against using his baby as a bargaining chip, but how could he when it worked so well? Sure enough, the idea that he could help look after Morgan kicked the teen into action as he slowly opened the door, chewing his lip timidly.  

At least it didn’t look like he’d been crying.  

Tony smiled at the teen, gesturing with his head in the direction of the stairs. "Come on, quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can send them on their merry way and the sooner we can have some fun. Who knows, you may even surprise yourself and like them.” Tony didn’t know how he would feel if the kid ended up liking them after only one meeting... but he supposed that he’d be happy if the kid’s happy. He should be anyway, since that was the only thing that really mattered.  

They went down the stairs, and for the first time Peter didn’t wait for Tony to get fully to the bottom of the stairs before descending them himself, and instead walked only a few steps behind him. Of course, everyone in the living room’s attention was drawn to them as they heard the two different pairs of footsteps, and Peter stumbled back when he walked in and saw everyone’s eyes on him.  

“Peter! This is Mr and Mrs Thompsons, they’re very excited to meet you.” Collins said in relief that he’d finally come down, standing up to greet the boy. Peter didn’t pay the couple any notice but did manage to give a small wave towards his social worker. That was, until the Thompsons started talking and the teen simply had to give them his attention otherwise, they were going to hurt him. He'd been so rude to them the other day, and he’d kept them waiting over an hour today, and now he was ignoring them. They hate him.   

“Nice to finally meet you properly.” Rose said, and Peter’s mind immediately went into overthinking mode as he wondered if she was being sarcastic or backhandedly snapping at him for refusing to meet them the other day. He didn’t trust himself enough to judge her intent by her tone, as his head always made everything sound overly malicious.  

He hoped Mr Stark and Mrs Pepper would defend him if they did say or do something mean. Why would they do that? They don’t want you either. An unhelpful part of his brain supplied, and Peter huffed out a pained breath as though the thought had physically winded him.  Maybe it had.

“We’ve heard so much about you.” she continued. He was sure they had, as they must have been given his file. God, he hated that damn file. Everyone always knew everything about him and had pre-set assumptions on him, meanwhile he was always kept at a disadvantage and never knew what family he was walking into. This whole meeting them before actually moving in with them thing was new... He wasn’t sure what to make of it just yet.

“Peter,” the new man said in leu of greeting, and Peter really, really didn’t like his voice. It was deep, throaty, incredibly masculine, and over all just made the teen flinch. He scurried across the room to where Pepper was sat and plonked down next to her, trying to hide behind her arm, but she moved said arm to rub at his back instead.  He couldn’t complain though, as her rubbing his back had quickly become one of his favorite forms of comfort. It was just so steadying-

“Aww, aren’t you just the sweetest.” Rose cooed at the display, and she sounded genuine, not teasing him at all, but Peter still flushed red and renewed his attempt to hide behind Pepper’s arm. Pepper called him sweetie all of the time, that was nice, that was allowed, but he didn’t like anyone else saying that he was sweet. That wasn’t... she wasn’t... Let's just say Peter wasn’t a cute little kid and therefor shouldn’t be described as ‘sweet’ okay? And there was nothing more to it than that... 

“Ooooh,”  

Peter lifted his head when he heard the familiar sound, smiling as he saw Morgan’s blue eyes looking at him from where she was cradled in Pepper’s other arm. Peter wiggled some of his fingers in a small wave, and received another “oooh” from the infant.  

Pepper felt her heart warm at the sight of Peter and her daughter. God he was such a... such a good kid. Such an altogether kind soul. She was glad that that hadn't been taken away from him like everything else, and wondered what he must have been like before... He must have been raised very well to be such a good kid despite everything, and she mentally applauded his parents.

~~~~~ 

Needless to say, Peter did not talk at all while the Thompsons were there, instead just silently communicated with Morgan. And the only sign that he was actually listening to the adult’s was when he’d bow his head bashfully each time the Collins or- especially- the Starks would complement him. Which happened a lot, as Tony told everyone how well he’d worked with him in the lab, and that particular praise coming from Tony Stark had made Peter unable to hold in a grin as he refrained himself from jumping up and down out of pure giddiness.  

Harrison Thompson didn’t really talk much either, which Peter would have obviously been okay with, had the man not instead taken to staring intently at him.  He didn’t like how he looked at him, and not just because the attention made him nervous and sweat but because it felt like the man was reading and judging his very soul. Peter wasn't brave enough to properly look at the man’s face, but he couldn't help but imagine that he was smirking and laughing at his thoughts and-

He gasped out a breath, shivering in anxiety as he could still feel the man’s eyes on him. Pepper looked down at the teen cuddled to her side in worry, stroking a brown curl off of his forehead and tucking it behind his ear, before turning her attention back to Tony who had started drifting into interrogation mode again.

His repeated questions said in a sharp tone informed everyone in the room that if the Thompsons answered any one of them wrong or hesitated that they’d be kicked out. Pepper was quite content to listen to her husband grill them: ‘how long have you been in the force?’, ‘why did you become a child psychologist?’, ‘I saw that you got a speeding ticket last year, why?’, ‘how many rooms does your house have?’, ‘do you have any dangerous pets?’, ‘do either of you smoke?’. Until, he got to one question where she had to stop him, because she could feel the boy next to her tense up.

“Have you ever shot someone on the job?” Tony aimed this question at Harrison, looking at him sharply. Really, Tony was in no position to judge if the man had, as he himself had certainly been responsible for people’s deaths before, but he still wanted to know.

Not that he’d get an answer, as Pepper cut in first. "Okay Tony, that's enough now.” she squeezed Peter a little tighter to her when he whimpered. The boy had been nervously watching the back-and-forth conversation, not at all liking the hostility in Tony’s questions, but the one about the gun and someone getting shot had been too much for him.

Luckily, Tony got the hint when he looked at his wife and saw Peter curled up next to her looking at him with tearful eyes. His face softened as he mouthed a ‘sorry’ to the boy.

“So, Collins mentioned your son goes to a STEM school? That’s nice, do Jessy and Harry go there too?” Pepper asked the couple to lighten the mood, a smile plastered on her face.

“Yes, Midtown High. And no, those two didn’t get accepted unfortunately, it’s a very prestigious school.” Rose answered with a hint of smugness, and of course that kicked in the billionaire’s need to have a bigger boat than the other person. He had the smarter kid, even if Peter wasn’t actually his...

“Oh, well Peter managed to get a full scholarship to a STEM school, didn’t you kid? From what I’ve seen when working with him in the lab he’s very gifted.” Tony gloated proudly, and Peter again lit up at the praise, smiling brightly at Tony despite the shy blush on his cheeks.

“That’s right, he went to one in Brooklyn where his last placement was. That’s quite far from your home in Queens though, maybe he could go to Midtown with Eugene? I’m sure they’ll get along like a house on fire.” Collins chirped, warmth in his eyes.

The Thompsons looked at each other, for some reason looking conflicted. Everyone else may not have read into it, but Peter certainly did as he wondered why they didn’t want him to go there. They seemed really proud of their son (well, Rose did anyway) so maybe they didn’t want him stealing their kid’s thunder? Or what if they were worried about having to pay for it? Guilt instantly overtook the teen. He didn't want to upset them; he didn’t want to ruin anything. He could go to a normal school, he didn’t mind, really. School was school, he’d still spend break and lunch alone and hiding in the library or toilets from kids who didn’t like him, it made no difference.

Peter wanted to tell them as such, he didn’t want them to feel obligated to do anything, but obviously he couldn’t speak. He felt himself panic as he watched the couple look at him.

“That’s possible.” Harrison answered in that deep voice Peter hated, tone emotionless.

No, no, no, really, he didn’t have to. He wouldn’t complain, they didn’t have to. Why did he have to be so high maintenance?

Pepper didn’t know why the teen looked like he was about to start crying, but she assumed he was just overwhelmed. He'd done so well thus far at being around this many people, and she was proud of him for being so brave. She could understand that he was ready for them to leave now though, so she’d try speed this up for him.

“That sounds nice, doesn’t it, sweetheart?” Pepper asked the teen, hoping that if she was positive about all of this that he wouldn’t feel as scared as he surely felt.

The positive energy she was trying to omit must have worked if only a little bit, as the teen did smile back at her and the fear in his eyes abated slightly. She ran a hand through his hair again as he nodded and hid  his head in her side. He could do with a haircut, but she’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t in love with those darling ringlets of his.

~~~~~

It took another ten minutes of Pepper dropping hints until they finally took their leave, it mostly only took that long because Collins was still chatting away with all of them, which was hard to be irritated by as the man was a genuinely funny and likable person.

Tony walked them to the door, as Pepper tried to pry Peter away from her a little so they could talk. They wanted to know what he thought of them before they decided on their own opinion, which would just be a replica of whatever Peter thought. If the teen said he liked them, well then they’d hide their own thoughts and agree with him, they wouldn’t rain on his parade. But if he said that he didn’t like them, then Pepper and Tony were prepared to smack talk them to hell and back and then order a comfort pizza for dinner.

“So? What did you think? Were they okay?” Pepper asked him, tilting the boy’s chin up so he looked at her.

Peter shrugged, forcing on a smile because he wanted to put on a brave face for them, even though deep down the teen’s stomach churned like he was going to be sick.

“Ah, ah. None of that, this is serious talk. Out of ten, show me your fingers, how much would you rate them?” She asked, needing the teen to be honest as it was all too easy to imagine him lying about liking them.

Peter blinked at her, eyes flickering to Tony who was stood by the door for help, but the man wanted to know too. “T-ten best, one wors-st?” He asked, if only to delay time.

“Yes.” Pepper confirmed, stroking his hair back again. That could easily become a favorite past time of hers if he stayed with them.

Peter debated putting up a five since that was smack bang in the middle, but it seemed harsh. They hadn’t hit him or said anything horrible to him, so already they were on the better side of all of his homes already. And yes, he was aware that his bar of expectations was laughably low, but there wasn’t much else he’d realistically ask for in a home. He just didn’t want to be hurt anymore. It would be nice to be loved too, sure, but that idea sounded so far out of the realm of possibilities to his ears that he’d happily take living with people who just put up with him. After all, how could anyone ever love him?

He would put a ten to be nice and not hurt anyones feelings, but the only people he could think of as being a ten were his aunt and uncle and, ironically, the Starks. He couldn’t rate the Thompsons, who kind of scared him (and yes, he was always scared around people but Mr Thompson made him feel particularly uneasy) a ten, Pepper would know he was lying anyway.

He settled for mid way between a five and a ten, rounding up 7.5 to an eight because he’d feel mean if he went for a seven. He waited for a reaction from the Starks, and was confused when Pepper closed her eyes and dipped her head like she was going to cry.

Oh no, what did he do? Why was she upset? This was good, he’d said he liked them so now they could get him out of their hair, shouldn’t they be relieved?

He went to open his mouth to stutter out an apology, but was caught entirely off guard at the sudden hug the woman pulled him into. He grimaced and whimpered as he half expected it to be an attack, but slowly relaxed when he realized it was just a hug. His heart still thudded in his chest from adrenaline at the fear that had flooded through him when she’d wrapped her arms around him without him seeing it coming though.

“I am so proud of you, you did so well today, sweetheart. So well.” She said, and Peter could hear a slight waver in her voice, but couldn’t see her face to tell if she was crying or not. Worry spiked through him, he didn’t want her to be sad. “Didn’t he, Tony?”

“Yeah, kid. You did great.” The man said, having stepped closer to save Morgan from being squished between the two in their hug. He ruffled the teen’s hair, and Peter again flinched slightly, despite having grown use to the man doing that or patting his back, because he was a little too on edge at that moment for physical contact. 

“Do you like cookies? I think you deserve some cookies after that, do you want to help me make some?” Pepper asked as she pulled away a little, ‘discreetly’ wiping her eyes.

Peter nodded with a soft smile, wanting to do anything to make the woman happy again. He didn’t know why she was upset, but he simply had to change it. His stomach growled angrily at him for agreeing, the sound of food making him feel even more nauseous than before.

But luckily the Starks just thought that meant he was hungry, and laughed, Peter trying not to sweat and keep a brave face as he was pulled into the kitchen.

~~~~~

The cookies were being taken out of the oven now, the delightful smell having Tony running back downstairs to the kitchen. He’d been upstairs on the phone confirming with Collins that Peter had (hesitantly) agreed to meeting up with the Thompsons again.

When he got downstairs, Peter was sat at the island, swinging his legs while Pepper put the tray of cookies on the side.

She started transferring them onto a plate near the teen, and it didn’t escape Tony’s notice how the teen was looking at the plate in front of him with increasing horror. They’d never given him this much food before.

“Don’t worry sweetie, I’m not expecting you to eat all of it. Just try a couple for me.” Pepper assured upon seeing his face. Peter had had breakfast a few hours ago, and they’d caught on to the pattern that if they gave the teen a full lunch that he wouldn’t be able to eat dinner, so she figured a few cookies would be a good idea. The food not filling but pumped with calories to get some weight on the boy.

Pepper pushed the plate closer towards Peter, making him squirm from the pressure she was putting on him.

Peter already felt sick, he simply couldn’t tame the thought of eating right now.

Tony sat on the other side of the island from the boy, looking at some emails on his phone, but continuing to observe the boy from the corner of his eye as he timidly picked up a cookie and nibbled his way through it. Tony was equally concerned and saddened to see that he didn’t at all appear to be enjoying it, he looked more like he thought eating the fresh chocolate chip cookie was a punishment. The kid’s relationship with food was certainly problematic.

After finishing the first one, Peter gave Pepper a hopeful look, seeking approval. She smiled encouragingly at him, but didn’t relent.

“Try one more.”

With a resigned sigh, Peter picked up a second cookie and took a bite of it, nose scrunched, before quickly setting it back down again. “I-I can’t,” he whimpered, feeling like the worst person in the world. She’d made them for him, and they probably tasted really nice, but he couldn’t ignore the feeling of a weight settling on his stomach.

“Oh come on sweetie, just finish that second one and I’ll let you off the hook.” She’d done a bad job this far at keeping him eating, and the thought that the teen was so unused to food even after living with them for a week was so upsetting that she couldn’t handle it. She’d forever be thinking why hadn’t she done more. “Just a few more bites, please. It’s just a cookie. It’s not going to hurt you.”

Peter relented and took another small mouthful. He looked so incredibly uncomfortable, but Tony didn’t want to interfere, the doctors words and the mental image of Peter being on an IV in his head. He observed closely as Peter gagged a few times and was just about to say something when Peter set the cookie back down again, now looking near tears.

“P-please don’t m-make me eat anymore. I-I don’t wa-want to throw up. Pl-please? ‘M sorry.” Peter sounded so desperate, and his begging eyes finally got through to them.

“You feel like you might?”

Peter nodded miserably, trying not to sob at the combination of the sickening heavy lump in his throat and the guilt he felt at refusing her cooking. “‘M sorry.” He mumbled again.

Pepper walked over to his side, taking his hands and shushing comfortingly. “Hey, hey it’s okay. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard.”

“Do you need to get to the bathroom?” Tony cut in, already putting down his phone so he could jump up to help him if needed. The kid looked faint.

Peter swallowed a few times and grimaced in discomfort, but then shook his head.

“I’ll be o-okay,” he whispered, squeezing his eyes closed and swaying slightly in his seat.

He didn’t look okay, he looked like he was fighting to keep that one cookie down with everything in his power. Meanwhile Pepper just looked crestfallen.

Tony hated to admit it, but a small part of him was relieved that he wasn’t the only one having parental fails with Peter. Up until that point he had been feeling as though Pepper could do no wrong, while he was an absolute mess. They’d have to look further into nutrition following periods of intermittent starvation, since Peter not being able to tolerate even a few cookies was rather extreme and he did always look uncomfortable when eating anything, just usually he could handle it, probably wanting to please them.

“How about you lay down for a bit, then if you feel up to it we can give Morgan that bath we talked about later?” Tony suggested, standing up and offering the boy a hand to help him off of his chair and steady him when he stood. Peter nodded with a complexed face.

He led him to the living room and lay him down on the sofa, throwing a blanket over the kid since he was shivering, and tucking the TV remote by him incase he wanted to watch something, even though he looked tired and they both hoped the boy would take a nap.

“Here, I got you a trash can just in case.” Pepper added, putting it on the floor by the boy’s head. “I’m so sorry sweetheart, I shouldn’t have pushed you so much. Next time I’ll listen to you.”

Peter gave her a small smile, not wanting her to feel bad. There was no reason for her to be apologizing really, since he wasn’t mad at her. He would have told her this, but he didn’t want to open his mouth and risk something other than words coming out.

He already felt a little better lying down. Well, his stomach did, his head still spun and heart hurt at the prospect of the Starks getting rid of him.

Tony turned off the lamp when he saw the boy’s eyes blinking open and closed sluggishly. Come on, kid. Please sleep, you need it.

Tony sat down in the armchair, Pepper stood there for a moment debating on staying or not. She wanted to stay and fuss over the teen, but she felt too guilty and instead went to the kitchen to put the cookies out of her and Peter’s sight.

Peter watched Tony from where he lay on the sofa, the man was on his phone, so the teen didn’t think he saw him watching. He didn’t know that the man could actually see him from the corner of his eye and was trying to not to do something silly to make him laugh, instead just letting the kid study him.

Which Peter did, he studied every single thing about the man, one question running around in his head as he grew tired and closed his eyes. Why couldn’t I stay with them?

Chapter Text

The coffee shop was crowded on the cold October afternoon, packed full of people making quick stops in their work breaks, or looking for shelter from the rain that had just begun outside.

Peter was, much to his chagrin, one of the people inside of said cramped coffee shop.

He sat in a booth at the back, eyes flickering from person to person in unfiltered panic as he pushed himself as far into the corner of the booth as humanely possible, hoping to disappear.

Collins had decided that for his second time to meet the Thompsons, a public space would be a good idea. And they were supposed to be there at eleven to meet them but Tony and Pepper had had to spend three hours just trying to convince Peter to leave his room this morning, so it was now half one.

It was stupid how much he missed the Starks already, after having only been away from them for twenty minutes, and he scolded himself for doing the one thing he’d promised himself not to do when he first found himself starting to like them. Grow attached.

Collins had gone to the restroom while they waited for the Thompsons to re-arrive, and Peter tried to calm his breathing as he panicked at the knowledge that he had kept the couple waiting for so long that they’d gone home.

His eyes looked through the bustle of people to the restrooms, praying above all else that Collins would come back out before the Thompsons arrived. So he wouldn't be alone with them.

He grimaced when a group of adults on the table next to him laughed loudly, one of them pushing out his chair and knocking into the table Peter was at. "Sorry, kid." the man said, before walking off to order something. Leaving Peter a little bit closer to a panic attack.

There were too many people around him, too many threats to keep track of, it was overwhelming. He wanted Tony and Pepper, or Collins, or at least someone he knew and faintly trusted. His wish was answered, but not in the way that he wanted it to be as he caught sight of the Thompsons walking into the coffee shop and towards him. His heart thumped wildly in his chest as he stared at them, then the restrooms, then them again in alarm.

He debated running to the restrooms and finding Collins himself, or maybe locking himself in one of the stalls until it was time to go back to the Starks, but the thought of being in a room purely full of men, all with their pants pulled down, scared him far too much. It would be way too easy to get cornered or attacked in there...

He could text Tony to come get him, but what were the chances that he’d actually come and not be angry at him for wasting his time?

Before he could debate any more of his options, it was too late and the couple had arrived at the table he was currently thinking about hiding under.

~~~~~

Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait much longer for Collins to come to his rescue. That relief was short lived when the man had to sit next to him as the Thompsons now took up the seats on the other side of the table, but Peter supposed that it was better Collins than one of them.

Peter kept his head down and body pressed against the wall as Collins made small talk with the couple. Peter wished he could talk so effortlessly and confidently to people too, but no one ever wanted to hear what he had to stay. He sat in silence as he listened to the adults talk about him like he wasn’t there, until Collins brought him back to earth and asked him something.

“How does that sound, Peter?”

Peter snapped his head up, shrinking under the three adult’s gazes as they waited for an answer. Shoot, he hadn’t been listening properly, it had all sounded garbled to him in his currently thumping head.

Collins apparently noticed his dilemma, and repeated what they’d been talking about. “After we finish these drinks, the Thompsons wanted to know if you would like to go to their house to see where you will be living. Would you like to?”

Peter swallowed the lump in his throat, turning his attention to the couple just in time to catch Harrison rolling his eyes at him. Peter instantly felt bad about being so slow and nodded his approval, even though he really, really didn’t want to. He just wanted to go back to the Starks. Please take me home.

Collins asked him whether he was going to have the donut and milkshake he’d bought him, and Peter nodded before taking a small sip to appease the man but otherwise just ended up fiddling with the straw for another ten minutes. The Thompsons and Collins had finished their coffees by then, and Peter was frightfully aware that they were all waiting for him to finish so they could go to the Thompson’s house. He took another sip of the milkshake, but couldn’t touch the donut. He wasn’t comfortable enough to even try to eat in front of any of them.

“Do you want to have that later, Parker? I can wrap the donut in some tissue for you and ask for the drink to be put in a travel cup if you want?” Collins offered, and Peter was eternally grateful that he wasn’t making him have it now or punishing him for refusing. Truthfully, he didn’t want it at all, but the man had bought it with his own money and Peter would hate to waste food, so he nodded with a grateful smile, letting the man do just that. Unfortunately, this now meant that they had no reason to continue to stay at the coffee shop, and the teen was put into Collins’ car to be taken to the Thompsons’ house.

~~~~~

He’d seen the outside of the apartment complex before, and he was again taken by how nice it was. Sure, it wasn't a penthouse, but they definitely earned decent money. Peter wasn’t sure how much a cop or a psychiatrist earned, but he knew that the state paid a fair sum for each foster kid you took in, which was often a reason people did it. It was basically like the state was selling them off to anyone willing to take a ‘troubled kid’ in, and Peter hoped that that wasn’t why the Thompsons did it. Although, it was better than them just wanting a living punching bag, he supposed.

Peter actually got out of the car this time, wanting to keep the Starks proud of him like they had been yesterday. He could be brave for them. This needed to go well so he could move out and stop being a burden to Tony and Pepper.

He stepped out onto the pavement, looking up and down the street and feeling sick at how he recognized his surroundings, mentally calculating that if he walked two blocks down, he’d be home at his aunt and uncle’s.

The Thompsons had taken a cab and had already arrived at the apartment, and were waiting for him just like they had done the first time he was supposed to go to their house. Apparently, Collins was a mind reader as he shut and locked the car just as Peter turned around to get back in the backseat. The teen looked at him in betrayal, but didn’t have time to complain as he was ushered into the apartment block lobby. Traitor, he thought with a pout.

They owned a two-story complex, with three bedrooms, an office, and one bathroom, which may seem kind of average to some people, but it was certainly a lot if you were living in main New York. All of the rooms were kind of bare, not a bit of clutter anywhere. It was all white polished surfaces, hardwood floors, and impersonalized walls. Sort of like a showroom. Like it wasn’t actually lived in.

He trailed behind Rose as she took him upstairs, not opening any of the doors but instead just pointing at them and saying what they were, until she came to a stop. "And this is Eugene’s room. You will have to share with him since there’s no room in Jessy and Harry’s room.” She looked a little unpleased at that, and Peter felt the overwhelming need to apologies for taking up space.

She opened the door to the bedroom. All of their kids were at school so it was empty, and Peter couldn’t help but feel like he was intruding. He shouldn’t be in there, it wasn’t his room and he didn’t have Eugene’s permission. That didn’t stop Rose from pushing him inside a little though.

She tutted, “We’ll have to get you a bed. I’m not sure where it’ll go though,” she sighed, “I guess I’ll have to ask Eugene to get rid of some of his stuff. What a shame.”

Peter turned to look at her with widened eyes, feeling horrible with himself. No, they didn't have to do that, it was bad enough for him to be forcing Eugene to have to share his room, he couldn’t make him have to get rid of his stuff too. He made a distressed noise in the back of his throat, which she must have heard.

“Aww, it's okay hon. We’ll make do. Unless, of course- no, you wouldn’t do that.” she dismissed, and Peter tilted his head to the side in question. Rose smiled in a way he didn’t know what to make of, it looked kind of like a smirk, but he didn’t understand why she’d be doing that. "Would you mind sleeping in the living room? It would be a big help, hon.”

He looked up at her with the frightfully large amount of naivety he possessed. Staying in the living room would mean that he wouldn’t have anywhere to go or hide from people if he was scared or anxious, and he’d be stuck in a common room. But really, he’d sleep on the roof terrace (which he’d been made to do before) if she wanted him to, he didn't want to be in anyone's way or upset anybody. He nodded in agreement, dread already pooling in his stomach at the idea of not having anywhere to go if they tried to hurt him, along with guilt at the prospect that he’d now have to be in their way in their living room.

“Good boy,” she said simply, patting him on the head, and no longer looking regretful, before turning and walking away. Peter stood there not knowing what to do for a moment, surprised at the suddenness with which she’d left, before realizing that he was probably supposed to follow her.

He stepped out of the other boy’s bedroom, closing the door behind him, hoping to leave no evidence that he was ever there to begin with and that he’d be gone before they got home from school. Peter missed school, he was probably really behind in it now. When he moved in with the Thompsons he’d have to go to a library or something and try to catch up again, that way he’d also be out of their way then and wouldn’t annoy them.

He stood at the top of the stairs and could hear everyone talking downstairs. He'd have to go down there soon.

He wanted to go back to the Starks now.

Inexplicably, he felt his eyes start to water and lip wobble as a homesick pit- usually reserved for his aunt and uncle- formed in his stomach. He was going to miss them terribly, he already did. You shouldn’t have grown attached.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket but there weren't any messages. They didn’t care about him. His tears fell in a steady pace onto the screen, and soon the screen went dark to show his own miserable reflection.

He didn’t know how long he stood there staring at himself, until Collins called his name from downstairs. He quickly put his phone back in his pocket and wiped at his eyes, starting down the stairs before someone came up looking for him.

He kept his head down low so they wouldn’t see his tearful face, which no one questioned as he always avoided eye contact anyway.

“So, Parker, what d’you think, huh? Did you like your room?” Collins asked cheerfully, and Peter lifted his head briefly to look at Rose. She smiled tightly at him. She must have told Collins that he was still staying with Eugene, not wanting to look bad. He wasn’t going to correct Collins, it wasn’t their fault that Peter took up so much room after all. He nodded with a soft smile, the continued thought of be brave for the Starks still in his head. “So would you like to live here?”

How could he decline in front of them without hurting anybody's feelings? That didn’t seem to be possible, and therefore not an option. Not that it mattered, he’d never been given a choice about where he was taken before so why should he get one now? The Starks wanted him gone and he wanted to make them happy, there was only one choice. Following with the trend of pure compliance he’d been in today, he nodded once again, hating himself when Rose exclaimed, “Great! We’re looking forward to having you here.”

“I guess we should head back and tell the Starks the good news then, Parker.” For some reason, Collins didn’t seem his usual cheery self anymore, like he had been hoping for a different response from the teen. Which Peter thought was ridiculous, as why would he care about where he stayed as long as he was out of his hair? Chase wouldn’t.

“I’ll let you out,” Harrison said, one of the few things he’d said all day as he eagerly stood up to take Collins to the elevator.

Peter was just about to follow them when Rose stopped him with a hand on his arm. He almost completely jumped out of his skin at the contact, and for a horrible moment he thought she was either going to pull him into an embrace or hit him, but thankfully, she did neither and instead patted him on the head again. "Good boy,” she repeated her earlier words, and the teen’s brows furrowed in confusion. He didn’t understand why she kept talking and patting him like a dog, but maybe he was just overthinking it.

She let him go downstairs then, following behind him in a way that made him nervous. He didn’t like people being behind him.

For whatever reason the adults had decided to take the elevator not the stairs down this time, but Peter simply couldn’t and wouldn’t get into the enclosed space with them. Collins took notice of this and offered the teen the option to walk down and ‘try beat them to the bottom’ which he took.

Peter finally felt relief when he sat back in Collins’ car and was on the way back to the Starks.

~~~~~

As soon as Peter opened the front door, he was met with both Tony and Pepper waiting in the living room for him, the two jumping up from their seats as though they’d been anxiously awaiting his arrival ever since he left.

“So? How did it go, kid?”

“What did you get up to, sweetie?”

Peter didn’t respond to either of their questions with words, and instead just silently walked over to Pepper and wrapped his arm around her waist in a hug, having been needing one from the woman all day.

“What's wrong? Were they nice to you?” Pepper asked in worry.

They weren't not nice to him, Peter thinks, before nodding because he didn’t want her to worry.

Tony looked at Collins for information on how it went, as he doubted that they’d get anything more than that from the teen.

“It went well, Peter got on alright with them, and we went to their home after to have a look around. And Peter said that he was ready to move in with them, didn’t you, Parker?” Collins had asked the teen repeatedly in the car ride back, not believing that the boy was telling the truth, but he kept nodding yes and Collins wasn’t in a position to make a ‘fully willing’ kid not want to move in with someone. Unfortunately, it wasn’t within his job description to force the teen to stay with people whom he thought were a better fit if said people weren’t willing to comply either. Even though Collins knew by now how to spot when a couple was a perfect fit for a kid, and that the Thompsons weren't that for Peter; the Starks were.

“What? Already? It’s only been two visits!” Tony said, not at all expecting it to go this quickly. And wasn't that crazy, that at one point he’d been comforting himself with the thought that it was only a night or two that Peter would be staying with them, yet now, over a week later, he was desperate for more time with the teen.

“Usually kids aren't taken for visits at all before they move in, and so the state wants this moved along. Strictly speaking, you two were only supposed to be an emergency placement and so we’re looking at child abandonment charges for leaving him with you for this long. The state wants this moved along quicker.”

That’s fucking stupid, Tony couldn’t help but think. The system has children dumped with strangers, and leaves them to get raped and abused without any help, yet leaving Peter with him and Pepper for over a week is considered abandonment and they want Peter rushed out to another home.

Tony turned to look at the teen who was watching him from Pepper’s arms. "Is that true, Peter? You’re ready to move in with them?” he asked softly, trying not to sound upset at the prospect. The kid shouldn’t feel bad about it.

Peter moved his eyes away from Tony for a moment to stare into a space, before looking back at him with now watery brown eyes. His eyes looked like they were begging Tony to understand something, but he couldn’t figure out what it was as he felt his heart give out when the teen nodded. Peter wanted to leave them, and just like that Tony’s world crumbled. He was leaving, it was happening, this outcome was inevitable yet it still felt like a sledgehammer to the gut. Peter was leaving, they’d never see him ever again.

Tony held his breath, staving off a panic attack, and managed to give a thin grin. He was glad he’d chosen to wear sunglasses today, that way no one could see the despair in his eyes. “That’s... that’s good. Can we have a day or two to get his stuff ready and...” say goodbye, “yeah.”

His words of ‘that's good’ made the teen almost sob in heartache.

“Of course, the Thompsons probably need time to get ready for him anyways. What do you say Peter? I'll pick you up in two days, does that sound alright?”

Peter didn’t reply, just turned his head to hide it in Pepper and let loose a cry. Pepper was also almost crying too.

“We still haven’t gotten any of his stuff back from the Carson’s yet.” Pepper said, both for the reason that she wanted to change the subject and because if Peter was leaving, she had to stick to the promise she’d made him when they first met that she’d get his camera back. He needed his things back. She flinched in shared pain with the boy when she felt him tense at those monster’s names. She felt vile just saying it.

Collins looked surprised, “Oh I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware of that. The Carsons are under house arrest until the trial, so his things should still be with them. I’ll make a call and see if they can send someone over to get them.”

Pepper grit her teeth at the fact that she’d told both Chase and the police officers who’d came over to interrogate Peter about his missing things, and yet neither one of them had done anything about it like they’d promised. She was furious that his stuff was still there, with them, those monsters who should be rotting in the pits of hell right about now, and not at all be enjoying the comforts of their own home after what they’d done to this defenseless child currently cocooned in her arms.

She held in her anger because she knew it wasn’t Collins’ fault. “Thank you,” she said instead, glad that he at least knew how to do his job, even though that was the reason Peter would be leaving them in two days.

She ran her hand through the boy’s curls, knowing she wouldn’t be able to do that for much longer. She hoped, more than anything, that the Thompsons would love him as much as she did. And that Rose would also find joy in running her hand through his hair, in seeing how relaxed it made him, how he’d lean in to the touch. She hoped Peter would be loved, for the special boy he was, and that the Thompsons would work hard to earn the teen’s trust, to hear him speak, and never ever break it.

She hoped he was happy with them, even if it’d leave both her and Tony with the feeling of a horrible loss in his absence.

Chapter Text

That night Pepper suggested that Peter take a bath, because he’d looked a little tense and she said it would make him feel better. He took her up on her offer, but had a shower instead because baths linked to bad memories with him.

When he came back downstairs he was in his pajamas, a soft blanket hugged tightly between his arms, making him look even younger.

Pepper had been painting her nails on a towel on the floor when he came in, and she urged him over.

Peter sat on the floor by her, wet curls falling into his face as he did so. It didn’t escape her notice how he was watching what she was doing with an undeniable interest, and she felt the need to offer: “Would you like to do yours? You can if you want to.”

Peter looked up at her in surprise, with just a hint of hope. “R-really?” His aunt used to let him paint his nails whenever he didn’t have school, but other people he’d lived with were… less than pleased about this particular hobby of his. Let’s just say that he’d had it beaten into him that there were some things that boys were sick in the head for if they wanted to do them.

Pepper hadn’t been certain whether she’d been misreading and if he actually wanted to do his nails, but his hopeful face was answer enough. She loved learning more and more about the teen’s personality, he certainly was an interesting person to know. “Yeah, sure.” She pat the floor next to her, and he shuffled over, before passing him the bag with all of her nail things.

He accepted it, still in a state of disbelief. “I-I don’t- I don’t know how.”

He did know how, but he didn’t want to get any on the floor and he was scared his hand would be shaky while he tried to do it because of the memories of getting hit for doing things like this still haunting his mind.

“That’s okay. I can do one hand for you and then you can do the other if you want.” She offered, putting the quick dry nail spray onto her own so she was ready to do his. “Just pick a colour.”

‘Are you a sissy boy? Fucking faggot.’

He fiddled with the zip, unable to open it first try because of how sweaty and shaky his hands were. Pepper had given him an order though, and he was going to follow it. He picked up a red bottle, clutching it tightly.

“Is that the one you want, sweet pea?”

He nodded shyly, putting it in Pepper’s hand when she held it out.

Then she gently took his hand in hers, examining the poor shape his nails were in from him chewing them and (unbeknownst to her) using them to scrape at his arms. She picked up a filer to straighten them out first.

He was silent while she did this, questions swimming around in his head until he finally had to ask one.

“I-isn’t th-this, umm, t-too gir-girly?”

Pepper paused what she was doing, looking at the teen curiously. “‘Course not, sweetie. This is just basic nail care that anyone should do. And painting isn’t girly, so why would painting your nails be?”

Peter blinked at her, confused at the valid point she’d made. He’d been told many times by different people that it was wrong.

“Whoever told you it was for girls is probably just a sad, egotistical man with no real self esteem. You do whatever you want, sweetheart, as long as it makes you happy.” She bopped him on the nose, which made him grin and blush.

Peter didn’t know what to think about her point of view. He liked painting his nails, it was fun and relaxing and it made him feel better about himself if only for a moment, but everyone that had seen him do it other than his aunt and uncle had been more than discouraging about it.

‘Fucking freak of nature, boy. This is why your parents killed themselves to get away from you.’

He couldn’t bring himself to pull away though once she started applying the vanish, the therapeutic motion calming him as he watched his nails get painted in the first layer of coral red.

Peter tensed when he heard someone coming down the stairs, expecting Tony to come in and see what they were doing and be disgusted, but he relaxed again when he heard the man turn to go down to the lab instead. He was a little disappointed that he wasn’t invited to go down there with him, because he didn’t know if he’d ever get another chance to make something cool with the man, but he was still happy to be doing this. Only now realizing how much he’d missed it after not having done his nails in well over a year.

When Pepper was done doing that hand she let him do the other, and then she put on the spray she’d used on her own nails to make it dry quicker.

He smiled as he looked down at the shiny red, and blushed bashfully when Pepper complimented them, saying that they were very pretty.

She then asked if she could brush his hair, because otherwise it would dry knotty and she had a cream to stop it from sticking up all over the place, which had sounded too good to pass up.

He preened at the feeling of the brush going through his hair. Pepper was being so gentle with him, using a hand to run through his hair after each brush, that his original worries that she’d use this chance to grab his hair in tight fists and pull him by it like Carson had were diminished.

He practically purred when she ran the cream she’d told him about through his hair after it had been brushed, roots to tips, and he closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

When she was done the soft curls were still there, framing his face, but they were no longer messy and sticking up everywhere.

Peter hated his curls, and used to gel them out, but he second guessed that particular insecurity when Pepper told him that they were a very darling feature.

He loved how much better about himself she made him feel.

~~~~~

Seven year old Peter Parker stood in front of his class, drawing in hand. Today was careers day and everyone had to give a presentation about what they wanted to be when they grew up.

His teacher gave him a kind smile and gently ushered him to stand in front of his classmates sat on the play mat. He shyly pulled at his t-shirt and shuffled a little on the spot. He was nervous that the mean kids would say something nasty to him while he was at the front of the class. That would be embarrassing.

“Why don’t you tell us what you want to be, Peter?” Miss Ibrahim said, smiling at him encouragingly.  

He held up his drawing of him fighting aliens under a wormhole in the sky.“Umm, when I grow up I r-really wanna be an Av-en-ger.” He said unsurely, his auntie had helped him with pronouncing that big word yesterday but he still wasn’t sure if he’d said it right.

His class oohed, even more so when they saw the props he’d brought in. He had a Captain America action figure and- his favorite- an Iron Man one that he’d gotten from an expo. It even lit up! The positive reaction and his favorite comfort toy in his hand gave him a bit more confidence to continue talking. “I-I really wanna be Iron Man, ‘cause, umm, I wanna help people and make really cool things like him.”

His eyes lit up in adoration as he spoke about his hero. The little boy puffed his chest out proudly when his class clapped at his presentation and his teacher gave him a golden star sticker.

He sat back down on the mat, his best friend hugging him as soon as he did. They both fell back in a squeal of laughter to the floor.

~~~~~

Those two days moved along far too quickly, and Pepper and Tony spent it in two very different ways. Pepper spent her time clinging and fussing over the boy, trying to get in as many hugs as possible before he had to leave. Meanwhile Tony spent it avoiding the teen as though he carried the plague, in the hopes that it would make his departure easier on him. Pepper could see the hurt in the teen’s eyes whenever the man would make some sort of excuse not to spend time with them, and she’d had quite enough of the man’s antiques.

It was their last night with Peter, and she knew that if Tony didn’t spend time with the boy while he still could that he’d regret it later, and Peter would be ever so upset. So she was going to make him watch a movie with them, even if she had to tie him to the sofa herself.

She’d gotten Peter all comfy on the sofa with Morgan cuddled up in his arms while he fed her a bottle. She’d also gotten Star Wars: The Force Awakens loaded on the TV, and now she was just waiting for Tony to come downstairs to go to his lab, just to find the door very much locked. As she'd predicted, he came down not long after, gave them a brief greeting before turning to go to the lab. She smirked when she heard him try to open it without any success, then ask FRIDAY to unlock the door, just to receive the response that she’d been told not to do that.

“Pepper!” he called, walking back into the living room. "Mind telling me why I can't get into my own lab, dearest?” It wasn’t the first time she’d gotten him locked out, and it wouldn’t be the last, but he didn’t know why she’d decided to do it this time though. Okay, maybe he did know, but he didn't want to admit to avoiding them.

“Because you’re watching a movie with us, of course.” she replied simply, patting the seat next to her. He stared at her incredulously, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t upset the young ears no doubt listening to them.

“Huh, funny, last I checked protocol 1 article 1 protects your right to enjoy your property peacefully. I thought you took politics, Potts.”

“Hmm, yes, but I much preferred business, Stark.” she replied, staying at his level of debate.

“I’ve got some important stuff to do.” he sighed, hoping to appease to the side of the woman who’d once spent years nagging him to get work done. Unfortunately, she knew that he was lying though, since he’d chosen to go on leave from anything work related to be with her and Morgan, so any work he was doing or anything he was building wasn’t necessary.

“Surely not as important as your own family, I dare say.” She had him there, she knew she did, since Tony was far too scared about becoming an absentee father like Howard had been to object after that. She raised an eyebrow at him as though daring him to complain. “Come on, we’re watching the last Star Wars movie we’ve got left.”

Tony huffed, glancing at Peter who was watching them both nervously. He’d missed the kid, and felt a deep guilt for having ignored him the past two days. The teen was leaving tomorrow, and it felt cruel to be doing this to him. He’d promised to be there for the kid, and what if Peter thought he’d done something wrong to cause his sudden silent treatment?

Tony sat down, unable to really refuse or walk away now. Pepper grinned in victory and Peter looked surprised but delighted, which succeeded in making the man feel even worse.

Pepper put the movie on, practically lying on top of Tony under the guise of a cuddle so he wouldn’t be able to get up.

~~~~~

The movie had finished, and with it Morgan was ready to be taken to bed. Pepper excused herself to take her upstairs, asking Peter and Tony to take the snacks they’d been having back into the kitchen, leaving the two of them alone. As she left the room, she shot Tony a look, mouthing the words ‘talk to him’ and indicating to Peter.

Tony frowned at being told what to do again, but ultimately the stiff silence between him and the boy became too much to bare and he had to break it.

“So, umm, big day tomorrow, huh? Are you nervous?”

Peter chewed at his lip as he placed the cups he’d been carrying on the kitchen counter by the sink, before turning around to look at the ground and shrugged.

He was definitely nervous.

Tony sighed as he opened the pantry to put the half-finished bag of Doritos back in. “It’ll be fine, bud. You've met them already and have seen their house, so you know what to expect. And hopefully this’ll be your last move, and you won’t have to go through this again, yeah?”

Peter closed his eyes, looking, for lack of better words, miserable. Tony cursed himself for being so crap at comforting.

“You know my offer still stands, you can call us whenever you want.” he said, and Peter looked a little surprised. Knowing the kid, he probably thought he wasn't allowed to keep his phone after he left. Or after the way Tony had been treating him, he probably thought he wanted nothing to do with him anymore which just wasn’t true in the slightest.

Peter nodded, mumbling “thank you.”

The boy had been quiet all day, and honestly Tony had thought that he’d gone mute again as a result of everything going on. He was glad to be wrong.

God, he wanted to pull the boy into a hug. He looked so small and scared. But he knew he couldn't do that, he wouldn’t risk scaring the kid by initiating such close contact. Instead, he ruffled the teen’s hair, an action the boy was used to at this point so he didn’t even flinch, just leaned in.

“You’re a good kid, you’re gonna do great." he assured, and Peter gave him another melancholy smile. Tony wasn’t expecting it when the boy wrapped his arms around his waist, but he was glad he did as it gave Tony the excuse to tightened the embrace, and pull the kid into a full bear hug.

~~~~~

The day was upon them.

Collins was downstairs waiting to go, and Tony was carrying the boy’s suitcase down the stairs.

“Are you sure you’ve got everything?” Pepper asked for the hundredth time that day, her eyes red from her tears last night and that morning. The teen made a humming noise of yes.

Her arm was linked with his as she lead him to the stairs, but she was brought to a stop when Peter suddenly paused in his steps. Peter pulled his arm away from her to wipe at his eyes with his sleeve, and Pepper immediately went into comforting mode. “Aww, honey.” She gently took his chin and wiped away his tears with her thumb, hushing him as he hiccuped on half suppressed sobs.

More tears fell from the boy’s eyes when it struck him that he’d never be comforted by her again. Would probably never see her again. They’d likely forget about him after a week and never think about him again, but he’d never forget them.

Pepper pulled his head closer to rest it on her shoulder, and rubbed his back as he cried everything out. Once the sobs died down she took him to the bathroom to rinse his face, before finally- unfortunately- arriving downstairs.

Tony was outside helping Collins put the suitcase in the car and asking him something, but they soon both came back in.

Pepper picked Morgan up from the baby chair she’d been in, letting Peter have a goodbye cuddle with her. She watched the teen whisper something to the infant, sniffling as he did so, before tearfully giving her back to Pepper.

Tony came over to say goodbye to the boy next.

“It’s been fun having you, kid.” He said, grimacing at his own word choice. Tony then extended his hand for the boy to shake, which Peter did, and he pulled the teen closer to him with it. “Remember what I said last night? Whenever.” He added quietly, giving the teen a meaningful look.

Peter nodded, a smile that looked more pained than anything on his face. Tony ruffled his hair one last time before letting go of his hand and letting the boy step back. It was Pepper’s turn now, and he accepted Morgan from her while she said goodbye.

The woman had no qualms about pulling the teen in for another hug, and rocked them both from side to side, whispering comforts to him as she did so.

Collins cleared his throat awkwardly as he waited by the door for the long hug to come to an end. This didn’t phase Pepper as she refused to let go, even when Peter tried to pull away himself.

“Pepper, Pep come on.” Tony put his hand on the small of her back and gently tugged her away from the boy. “It’s time.”

She put her hands on the boy’s cheeks and gave his forehead a kiss, before finally letting go. “Good bye, sweetie. Thank you for staying with us.”

Peter stumbled backwards a few steps, keeping his eyes firmly glued on the couple. He didn’t want to leave them. He didn’t want to. It wasn’t fair.

“Parker,” Collins called, and Peter spun around to look at him with widened eyes. The man looked sad too for some reason. “It’s time to go.”

The sentence made him physically choke, feeling like his heart was breaking. He knew well what a panic attack felt like, and he was pretty sure one was coming; it felt like the world was ending.

“Peter.” Collins called again. Peter whimpered, looking back at the Starks hoping, begging, them to reconsider. To want him. But they didn’t, they didn’t say anything, they didn’t care about him. They would probably be happier with him gone, why wouldn’t they be, he was a mess. He ruined everything. He could never be happy.

“Say bye-bye, Morgan.” Tony said, waving the infant’s tiny hand for her. He’d been hoping to lighten the mood, but the gaspy laugh from the teen was more from pain than anything else.

Morgan wouldn’t even know he existed.

They didn’t want him. They didn’t want him, they didn’t want him, they didn’t want him. Everyone would be happier without him.

Peter took a deep breath and held it, trying to be brave again. He had to be brave. He wanted the Starks to be happy, and if he had to leave for that to happen then he’d do it. He wouldn’t kick up a fuss.

Peter bowed his head and swallowed, before turning to Collins and letting the man usher him out. The Starks followed him to the car, Pepper giving him another hug and Tony telling him that he’d put some money in his bag for him. Peter wanted to break down and cry, and beg them not to send him to the Thompsons, but he didn’t want to make the Starks annoyed or upset. He didn’t want to leave them with a bad impression of him.

Peter remained silent and kept an emotionless face as they said goodbye to him again, before getting into the car. Collins closed the car door, and as soon as it closed the boy’s façade dropped and his face fell. He hugged himself tightly, wishing someone was holding him or that he had something to hold onto.

He’d gone to new placements tones of times before, but usually the only thing he’d have to deal with was worrying that the next home would be worse than whatever one he’d just left, though this time he was also filled to the brim with grief. He didn’t want to go.

He gasped in air, as he looked out of the car window desperately searching for the Starks, hoping they were still there. They were talking to Collins, for some reason looking miserable themselves. Peter hoped he hadn’t made this hard on them.

Tony looked at the backseat he was in and Peter snapped his head to the front so he wouldn’t see him looking, before peeking from the corner of his eyes again.

Tony shook Collins’ hand, and then the social worker was getting into the car.

“Anything else you want to say before we head off, Parker?” He asked, and Peter squeezed his eyes closed and shook his head. In truth, there was so much he wanted to say but he couldn’t.

Be brave.

His breath hitched when the car engine started, and when it started moving Peter opened his eyes and looked back out of the window to see the Starks waving him off.

He didn’t wave back. He wished he did.

Peter kept watching them until they were completely out of sight, and then collapsed back in his seat with a face scrunched in pain.

You’re never gonna see them again.

~~~~~

Pepper would later go upstairs to the teen’s former room, expecting to be struck by how empty it was. And while that was, for the most part, the case, the room wasn’t completely empty.

Her eyes fell on the open notebook resting on top of the dressing table, and when she stepped closer her heart stopped when she saw that it was the notebook they’d bought from that sci-fi shop. She picked it up carefully, half worried that it would crumble apart under her touch.

Peter had written something at the top of the page it was open on.

‘To Mr and Mrs Stark, thank you for everything you did for me. Love from Peter’

Pepper sobbed.

Chapter Text

This time the Thompsons weren't waiting at the door for him, and Peter waited with Collins to be buzzed into the building, his heart rate increasing when the door opened and they took the stairs up. He practically shrank into the wall when someone walked past, wishing that they’d taken the elevator.

Collins knocked on the apartment door, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder, likely because he’d noticed that the teen was seconds away from running for it. Peter didn’t have time to get too concerned about the physical contact, as the apartment door was pulled open and he had something else to be fearful of.

Peter looked up, startled, to see who was there, and was met with a boy whom he’d never met before eyeing him unhappily. He was a little taller than Peter, and had the same complexion and eye color as Rose so he guessed that this must be her son. Peter dipped his head to look back at the ground, feeling shy around another child his own age.

“Ahh, you must be Eugene.” Collins said, extending his hand for the other boy to shake.

The boy grimaced at the name, but still accepted the handshake before turning around to look over his shoulder and calling into the house “Mom! They're here!” He then walked away.

Rose appeared at the door as if from no where, smiling sickeningly sweetly and inviting them in.

As he stepped in behind Collins, Peter felt the urge to check his phone again for any messages from the Starks, but didn’t because he knew he’d just be met with disappointment and he didn’t want the Thompsons to know he had a phone in case they took it off him.

He was being ridiculous, he knew he was. He’d been away from them for not even an hour yet and he already felt grief from the loss. He just wanted to go back to them, but he couldn’t, he had to accept that this was his home now and he was never going back to them again. This was nothing he hadn't gone through before, so why did it feel so different?

“Can I get you anything? Would you like a drink?” she asked Collins, and the man’s next words sent the teen into a panic.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I wish I could stay but I have an appointment across town in an hour, so I have to get going.”

Peter reached out and grabbed the man’s arm, a look of horror on his face. He hadn’t expected to be left alone with them so soon.

“I’m sorry, Parker. I tried to reschedule but I couldn’t. You can call me whenever if you need anything, and I’ll come over to check in on you tomorrow afternoon, okay?” the man said in apology, truly looking guilty. Peter didn’t believe his words though, as when he’d called Chase to tell him that Mr Carson kept touching him inappropriately and that he was scared and wanted to leave, the man had just ignored him. So why would Collins be any different?

Peter continued to watch him with large eyes full of betrayal as he left, the sound of the front door closing like a knell to his ear as he realized that he was completely alone now. That he had officially moved in with the Thompsons for what was supposedly going to be forever. This was meant to be a permanent home, Collins had said.

He slowly turned around, seeing that Rose had left the room and that he was now left alone with Eugene, who was sat on the couch watching TV. Peter didn't know what he was supposed to do, so he just stood there awkwardly, bag in hand, waiting for orders. He watched the other teen, but quickly diverted his eyes when the boy noticed him staring and took to looking at the floor instead.

Rose came back downstairs, looking pleased when she saw him still dutifully stood there. "Since this is where you’re sleeping, you’ll have to put your bag in the cupboard so it’s out of the way. Okay?” She opened the door of the cupboard under the stairs, and looked at him waiting for him to move closer. Peter didn't want to put his stuff under there, as it seemed kinda like he’d never get it back again, but he wouldn’t argue against complying. He shuffled over and placed it down, and Rose slammed the door shut straight away, making him jump. “Good boy.”

He cringed at the pet name.

Peter had forgotten about that detail, that he’d be sleeping down here. And now that he had actually moved in, he was regretting agreeing all the more. Where was he supposed to go all day? Did he have to stay down here with them and wait for everyone to go to bed before being allowed to lie down? He was already stressed and on edge from everyone, he needed a breather. Maybe he could ask to go to the bathroom?

“Kids!” Rose suddenly yelled, and Peter stumbled away from her, his chest heaving.

He panicked even more so when two sets of footsteps came stomping down the stairs, soon to show two other teenagers, who regarded him with the same disinterest and irritation as Eugene had.

They both stood straight, arms behind their backs in a military like stance- Peter only knew because the Millers family he’d stayed with had him stand to attention every time they came into the room or spoke.

“Well, introduce yourselves.” Rose ordered again with that sickly sweet tone. Peter saw Eugene roll his eyes from the couch, but otherwise he continued to just watch the TV.

“Jessy.” The girl said, face emotionless and hardened.

“Harry.” the older boy replied with similar disinterest.

Upon saying their names, they both looked back over to Rose, waiting to be excused.

“You may go.” she dismissed, and the two teens immediately scattered back to their room.

Rose wondered off too then, leaving him standing there wondering if he was supposed to follow her. Just as he was about to do as such, she called from whatever room she’d just gone into telling him that he can sit down.

Peter looked at the couch, seeing that Eugene was still watching the television. He didn't want to disturb him or invade his space, but he couldn't very well stand there all day. Well, technically he could, he’d been made to stand all night before, but he was sure that he’d look a whole lot less awkward if he sat.

He quietly shuffled over to the couch, pausing in front of it to see if the other boy was going to snap at him or tell him to go away. Nothing happened, he just continued to ignore him, until Peter sat down and the boy rolled his eyes and moved further away from him to the other side of the couch, which Peter was grateful (if a little hurt) for.

Peter could tell that the other boy was less than pleased to have him here, and he couldn’t really blame him. He didn’t like himself either.

He fiddled with his hands, tensely waiting for something bad to happen or for Mr Thompson to make an appearance. All the while wishing that he had somewhere to go and hide, or that he was still with the Starks.

~~~~~

Mr Thompson wouldn’t make an appearance until dinner was ready, seemingly teleporting into the dining room where Peter had been called in to help a few minutes ago. He’d been setting out plates on the table when he heard the deep voice from behind him, making him startle and drop a plate onto the floor.

The glass shattered on impact, scattering across the tiled flooring. Peter fell to his knees along with it, already heaving for breath in panic. Why the fuck had he done that? How the fuck could he be so stupid? He hadn’t been there a day yet and already he was messing up.

“Oh you stupid-” Harrison bit his tongue and cut himself off before he could say something that he wasn’t supposed to say.

Rose leisurely strolled in, tutting and shaking her head in disappointment, “Oh Peter, don’t tell me you’ve made a mess already.”

Peter’s mouth mutely open and closed in the shape of the words ‘I'm sorry’, and he clasped his hands together in a begging motion, praying that they would accept his attempt at an apology and wouldn’t hurt him. He'd only just gotten here, he couldn't believe that he’d messed up so soon. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

His entire body rang in alarm when she walked over to him, heels clicking.

“Bad boy. Now you’ve got a mess to clean, haven’t you?” she continued, crouching in front of him to be closer to his level on the floor.

If Peter thought that he hated being called ‘good boy’, being called ‘bad boy’ most certainly trumped it. It made him feel horrible and dehumanized, and secured his thoughts that he’d misbehaved and messed up.

At her question, he immediately started picking up the shards of glass with his bare hands, blood straight away forming as the sharp edges cut into him. Peter paused at the familiar, twistedly comforting feeling of pain. He deserved to be hurt. They were going to hurt him.

Rose stopped him before he could pick up anymore. “Ah, ah, ah. Under the kitchen sink there’s a dustpan and brush, go get that and a paper towel to clean up the new mess you’ve made with your blood.”

Peter scrambled to his feet to comply, racing to the kitchen and returning in quick succession. He felt quite lightheaded from the rush, but that didn’t stop him from falling back down to his knees and cleaning up his mess before they got even more mad at him. He continued to mouth 'I'm sorry' over and over again, raspy choking noises coming out along with it as he cried.

“Now, as penance you are to clean up the table after dinner. And as it is my floors that you have messed up, you will sit on the floor while you eat your food, does that sound agreeable?” Rose spoke to him from where she now stood next to a rather irritated looking Harrison.

Peter shrunk under their gazes and nodded his head. They could be beating or starving him so really their idea of a punishment sounded more than gracious to the teen. It sounded fair to him. He needed to earn his place here anyway, so cleaning the table was the least he could do. He stood back up with a dustpan full of glass in his not yet treated bloody hand. He’d treat it later if he was allowed.

Rose told him where the bin was, and he quickly went to dispose of the waste.

~~~~~

Peter set the rest of the table after that, and while the rest of the family all sat around the table and helped themselves to the food, Peter was handed an already made-up plate and made to sit crossed legged on the floor where his chair was supposed to be.

It was embarrassing, and demeaning, and it also made him scared to be so gullibly sat on the floor with so many people around him. It would be way too easy for anyone to hurt him like this. Still, he continued to reassure himself that this was better than being beaten or raped, they’d even been kind enough to give him food. Peter just needed to toughen up, it was his fault he was in this situation anyway.

After everyone had finished, Mr Thompson headed off to work, and Peter did what Rose had told him to and cleaned the table, a task which was a little hard to do with only one arm so he took his sling off. Just as he finished and started to worry about what he was supposed to do next, Rose came back in.

“All cleaned? Good boy, you are forgiven now.” she said, patting him on the head.

It was weird how this time the nickname actually gave him a sense of glee and relief, but he reasoned that he was just glad that he wasn’t in trouble anymore.

He smiled timidly, bowing his head courteously.

“You may go sit in the living room now,”

Peter was just about to dutifully go and do that when she stopped him with her voice again. “Oh, and hon?”

He froze. Of course there was a catch. No way he was being let off that easily.

“You will quickly come to learn that in this household insolence and disobedience is not tolerated. If you’re good you get privileges, but if you're bad those privileges can and will be suitably stripped away, as proven by earlier. So, do yourself a favor and be good, yes?”

Peter blinked, his body shrinking into itself to be as small as possible. He didn’t know what Rose counted as a ‘privilege’ and what was a necessity, and he didn’t want to find out. He'd try his best to be good. He never tried intentionally to be bad, but no matter how hard he tried he could never seem to do anything right. He hadn’t meant to drop that plate, he really hadn’t, and he wished he could tell her and apologise properly but that wouldn’t change the fact that he had smashed their property. He was so stupid.

He mouthed ‘yes’ and ‘thank you’ in agreement, and she again patted him on the head, making him flinch. He wished it was the soothing motion of Pepper stroking his hair instead, or even Tony ruffling it.

~~~~~

Peter sat uncomfortably in the living room, waiting for everyone to go to bed so he could finally be left alone. Tears pricked at his eyes as he waited, the stress and anxiety of keeping a brave face becoming too much. He wanted Tony and Pepper, he wanted to go back to them and his room with a lock.

They still hadn't attempted to contact him, and it just made him more upset as he wondered if they’d already forgotten him. Who was he kidding, they were probably celebrating his absence right now. They didn’t care about him.

Finally, Eugene went to bed, not saying anything to Peter as he left, and Rose came out of her office with a blanket in hand. She crinkled her nose at the sight of him curled up on the corner of the couch. "Feet aren't allowed up." she snapped, and Peter immediately put his feet back on the floor. He wondered whether she expected him to sleep sitting up then, until she answered that question too. "Actually, I’m OCD and you sleeping on the couch will just make a mess, and you'll be in the way when the kids come downstairs for school in the morning. You wouldn’t mind sleeping on the floor would you, hon? It would make things a lot easier. Please, for me?”

Peter knew it wouldn’t be very comfortable, and that he should probably be upset, but he didn’t want to trigger her if she had OCD, and he also didn’t want to be in the way. She’d asked nicely, so he didn't see anything really wrong with the request. She had to be considerate of the others, and so did he. He wouldn't hog their space. That wouldn’t be fair. He should just be grateful to have a roof over his head anyway.

He nodded and stood up from the couch, straightening the pillows too so they were nice and tidy.

“Good boy,” she said when she saw this, and Peter again felt the now slightly bigger bit of glee at the nickname. It was weird how quickly he’d switched to liking the name, but he preferred it a million times over to bad boy, as this meant he was behaving well.

He watched as she lay out the singular blanket flat on the floor, along with a pillow, and when she gestured for him to sit down, he followed orders and sat on his knees on the floor, looking up at her with big eyes. She then said goodnight to him before leaving him alone, turning off all of the lights in the room and leaving him in complete darkness.

If he was good, she would consider getting him a bed in a week or two, but first she planned on using this week to train him so that he will be more thankful in the future even for small things such as a mattress, and so he would flawlessly follow her orders in the hopes of reward. She wasn’t cruel, just methodical. Really, she was just fixing him and making him better, and one day Peter would thank her.

~~~~~

Peter was way too uncomfortable to sleep, not that he was likely too anyway.

He was still wearing his clothes- which unfortunately included jeans- and he was desperate for the toilet. But the downstairs bathroom didn't have a lock, and he wasn’t brave enough to get changed or relieve himself without a lock to protect him from people bursting in and hurting him while he wasn’t fully dressed. He planned on waiting a little longer into the night when he could be sure that everyone else was asleep, but then there was also the worry that he’d wake everyone up because the closet door his bag was behind creaked, and he’d have to flush the toilet.

More so, he was incredibly cold. He was always cold, thanks to being so underweight, but only having one blanket in a spacious New York apartment in mid-October sure didn’t help. If he had the blanket over him, his back was exposed to the cold hardwood floor, but if he had it under him his torso was left to freeze and he was left unshielded from the worst threat of all: people.

Just as he debated moving himself over to lie on the rug, so that he’d be protected from the floor, the sound of the front door opening caught him off guard. Light from the hall outside illuminated the tall figure, and Peter stared in fear as Harrison stepped in, a six pack of what looked like beers under his arm.

Peter hadn’t considered the fact that Harrison was working a night shift and would come back in the early morning, and he silently thanked his insomniac abilities for keeping him awake so he wasn’t vulnerably asleep when he came in. He glanced down at the watch he and Tony had made, and saw that it was two in the morning. He silently begged that the man would go to bed and wouldn’t hurt him.

Harrison didn’t seem to notice Peter as he dropped his keys into a bowl and kicked off his shoes, turning on the main light as he did so. Peter continued to watch and gape at him, clutching the blanket tightly in a shaky fist, as though it could protect him.

He continued to watch the man shrug off his jacket, not daring to make any noise or breathe too loudly incase he heard it. His attempt at remaining entirely invisible didn’t last much longer, when Thompson stalked over to the couch and saw Peter behind it. All of the blood in the teen froze cold in his veins, along with his heart.

“What are you looking at?” The man snapped with a noticeable snarl, and Peter immediately diverted his eyes, continuing to watch the man from the corner of them because he simply couldn’t have him completely out of his sight.

Harrison flung himself onto the couch, flicking on the TV and popping open a bottle of beer. Peter looked over again and could see the back of the man’s head. He was glad that he hadn’t come over to hurt him while no one else was home, but it didn’t do much to abate his pure terror.

Peter glanced over towards the kitchen, wondering if he could sneak away into there and hide, but he was too paralyzed by the fear that if he moved even an inch he’d draw unwanted attention to himself and would get rounded up on.

He continued to lie in fear, listening to beer after beer getting opened and waiting in horrible anticipation for the man to get up and go after him. Each time Thompson moved Peter’s heart stopped as he thought that now was it, and memories of just what people were capable of when their breath stunk of alcohol and eyes were dilated under the influence surfaced in his brain.

Eventually, the late hour and alcohol must have caught up with the man, as Harrison’s snores filled the room and his head lolled back on the couch.

Peter didn’t know how long he continued listening to each snore, searching for any indication that he was still awake or was waking up. After becoming at least 90% sure that he was entirely out of it, Peter sat up onto his knees, before slowly standing to his feet. He stood there for a good five minutes, just trying to build up the courage to walk.

He tiptoed over, grimacing and stopping at every minuscule noise he made and every time the floors creaked. Peter stopped in front of Harrison, studying his very much asleep face. The coffee table was now cluttered with empty bottles, one half full and still held in the man’s hand. The man’s shoes and jacket were also discarded on the floor, making the previously spotless living room messy.

Peter didn’t want Rose to wake up to a mess, that wouldn’t be very nice for her. And since both of the Thompsons were being nice enough to let him stay, it was the least he could do for them to tidy up. Peter picked up the shoes and jacket first, neatly putting them in place. He then went to put the empty bottles in the kitchen, but when he picked two of them up they clinked together and he froze when that made the man’s snores stop for a too long second before blissfully continuing. He was much more careful after that, moving in slow-mo and taking them to the kitchen and putting them next to the bin as he didn’t know if the Thompsons put their recycling somewhere else or not.

He didn’t know what else to do, so he padded back into the living room to see if there was anything else. The blanket and pillow he’d been using were still on the floor, and he knew that he should tidy that up. The room was cold, and he didn’t want Harrison to be cold so he gently placed the blanket over his legs and the pillow next to him. Hopefully he’d sleep well.

Peter was tired and uncomfortable and cold, and he wanted nothing more than to snuggle under the pile of blankets the Starks always piled over him and drift off to a movie, but he couldn’t. He still really needed to pee, but he wouldn’t dare risk that with Harrison down here. It wasn’t safe. Peter held it in and wrapped his arms tightly around himself to try and preserve some body heat, closing his eyes tightly to stop himself from crying. The Starks house was always warm, their temperature on the highest, and he yearned for that cosy feeling it had.

He went back into the kitchen and sat at the small breakfast table in there, resting his head on the surface. Eventually that wasn’t enough for him, and he slipped under the table to curl up on the floor, mentally reassuring himself that if he was out of sight, he was out of mind, and a lot safer even if the floor made him even colder.

He stayed hidden there until morning, blinking tiredly but alertly at his watch as he counted down the time, flinching at every tiny noise that reached his ears. He didn’t know whether he was relieved or dread-filled when he finally heard movement from upstairs.

Chapter Text

“M-Mr Stark! Mr Stark, help! Pl-please he-help!”

Peter scrambled on the floor, clawing at the wood to try and pull himself away. Twisting and turning and trying to kick at the people pulling him back into the darkness by his legs. He was sobbing hysterically, and extended a desperate hand to the man. Tony just continued to stand there, not coming to the boy’s aid.

“I don’t wanna go! I-I don’t wanna go, Mr Stark. Please. I don’t wanna g-go.”

His cries fell on deaf ears, as he lost the fight to the Thompsons who were forcefully pulling him back into the shadows.

Tony woke up with a gasp, eyes scanning the room for Peter. He could still hear crying, and it took him a moment to realize that it was Morgan. It had been a dream. Peter was already gone. He was gone, but he was fine. He was fine, he had to be fine, he was surely fine?

He must have fallen asleep in the nursery after they’d finally managed to get Morgan to sleep. From the moment Peter had left, the infant had been none stop screaming her lungs out, all afternoon and all night until four in the morning the next day when she must have exhausted herself too much to carry on and fell asleep. Nothing could calm her.

They assumed she’d gotten colic, but the timing of this batch of screaming was little more than a coincidence. She wasn’t yet old enough to recognize faces, so there was no way she’d been able to notice Peter’s absence, nor understand the situation enough to feel sad about it, right? Granted, the boy had been there for literally half of her (short) life, but surely, she wasn’t screaming in grief at his absence...

Maybe she’d picked up on his and Pepper’s sour moods, or felt the thick tension in the house after Peter left, and was distressed about that. He picked her back up from the crib, hushing even though he doubted that would work at this point. Nothing calmed her down. He checked her diaper and changed it even though it was still clean. He gave her the rest of the bottle she’d been having earlier, but it still wasn’t enough to calm her, she just continued to cry and scream until she was red in the face. He tried humming and rocking and talking but nothing worked.

He was clearly too unqualified for this. Morgan hated him, she hated his guts, she must do. He stood up to go and find Pepper, because she’d know what to do, she would be able to fix this because she could fix everything. Except he couldn’t find her, she wasn’t in their room and she wasn’t downstairs. Tony bounced the baby up and down, getting increasingly worried for her health because this surely couldn’t be healthy for her to be in such distress for so long. He needed Pepper.

“Shh, shh, I’m getting mommy. Mommy will make it all better.” He patted the infant’s back and double checked the kitchen before asking FRIDAY, “Fri, where’s Pepper?”

“Lady Boss is in the guest bedroom next to the stairs.”

Oh… That was Peter’s room. Well, former room anyway. Tony went back up the stairs, feeling strangely scared to see the room again and worried about what state Pepper would be in.

He pushed open the door and saw the woman sat on the mattress with a book of some sorts in her hands, leaning over it and reading. She placed the book down next to her, out of his sight, and looked up when he came in, wiping at her definitely watery eyes and putting on a smile.

“Is she still crying?” She asked, and Tony walked over to place the infant in her arms before sitting down next to them. They’d both hoped that if they managed to get her to sleep that she’d wake up in a better mood, but evidently not.

Pepper swayed the baby back and forth, making soothing hushing sounds but that went just as well from her as it had from Tony. “Maybe we should sit in front of the TV with her, she usually likes looking at the lights and the sounds might help.” She suggested, again wiping at her eyes. Neither of them made a move to get up, Tony couldn’t tear his eyes away from the lock on the bedroom door, the one that now had no purpose to serve.

“What were you reading?” Tony asked in the hopes of starting a conversation that wasn’t tinged with sadness, avoiding the question of what she was doing in Peter’s room.

Pepper picked up the book she’d just put down, and Tony realized that it was actually a notebook. She placed it in his hands and he flicked open the first page, curious.

“It’s Peter’s.” She said in explanation, pointing at the box the teen had scribbled down his name in. “He left it here with a thank you note to us, and I’ve just been flicking through it.”

Tony skimmed through all of the boy’s writings and notes and small doodles.

“And once I started, I couldn’t stop. He wrote down a lot of school notes in there, testing himself, and commentaries on what he thought. You were right, he is a little genius. It’s like- it’s like finally being able to see a bit of what was going on in his head.”

She didn’t need to elaborate more on that, that was enough. Up until now the kid had been purely guess work, a complete mystery, but they could finally see a little of his unfiltered thoughts now.

Pepper stood up to bounce Morgan, who was still crying but it was more whimpers and whines now rather than full on wailing. She must be exhausted, tiny thing she was.

Tony looked through all of the school notes and diagrams he’d jotted down, and it amazed him how even through all of the crap he was going through the teen still kept school as a priority. He was definitely special, with so much potential, and Tony wondered if he'd be able to recruit the teen as an intern or something. It would probably be a bit weird since usually all interns were sixteen plus, but that way he would be able to keep an eye on Peter and stay in contact with him. He didn't want to never hear from the kid again.

“I- should we give this back to him? Should I ask Collins for an address?” Tony asked, already standing up to go and do that. He wasn’t going to suggest that they give it to Collins for him to take it, because he wanted to give it to Peter himself. He wanted to see him, he missed him already as stupid as it sounds.

Pepper put a hand on his chest to stop him, a saddened look on her face. “He’s only just moved in with them. We need to give him some time to readjust. Us going over there won't help.”

Morgan started crying harder again, making both parents wince and unanimously start to fuss over her.

“We can message him later on in the day, ask him how he’s getting on and wish him a good night.” Pepper continued, taking a deep breath to force out the words. She’d much prefer being able to physically hug him and wrap him up under blankets, knowing that he was comfortable and safe with her, but she’d have to get used to this.

Tony looked resigned, huffing in disappointment.

They were both quiet for a moment, just listening to Morgan’s continued heartbroken cries.

Tony checked the time and found it to only be six am, so his poor newborn daughter had been in distress for over twelve hours and had only gotten two hours of sleep. He was getting seriously concerned about her health, and Pepper’s expression showed she was too.

“FRIDAY, should you take a baby with suspected colic to the doctors?”

~~~~~

Everyone was awake and eating breakfast by eight am, and this time Peter was actually allowed to sit at the table, but he wasn’t sure whether that was better or worse.

He sat back in his chair, not wanting to eat because his nerves were making his stomach hurt, and holding his bladder for so long probably hadn't helped. He’d gone to the upstairs bathroom a few minutes ago while they were all downstairs, which thankfully had had a lock on it. He didn’t know what he would have done if it hadn’t.

But now, he was sat between Jessy and Harry, and opposite Eugene, and he was trying not to do anything to annoy the other teens, because he already felt bad about invading their spaces and he didn’t want to upset them any further.

He fiddled with his hands, wishing he could physically disappear into the chair. The atmosphere was cold, and quiet. So quiet except from the clinks of cutlery against dishes that Peter worried that everyone could hear his frantic heartbeat, which pounded loudly in his own ears. It made him miss the warm and friendly atmosphere at the Starks, and the easy chatter between them.

Peter’s eyes drifted up to watch everyone for a moment, and he subconsciously straightened himself up a little when he saw everyone else's perfect posture.

“Peter, why aren’t you eating?”

His head snapped to the side to meet Rose, who was looking at him in disappointment. The expression immediately made him feel bad. He didn’t want to disappoint anybody, and he didn’t want to be bad, so he picked up a piece of toast and nibbled it, but it felt like cement going down, weighing on his stomach.

He stopped when that singular bite seemed to satisfy the woman, just holding it in his hand and eyeing the burnt bread with a grimace.

“Where’d you get that watch from? Looks expensive.”

Harrison hadn’t spoken to him since the early morning when he’d come in, or to anyone for that matter, so Peter was caught off guard when he addressed him. Peter placed his hand on the special watch adorning his wrist protectively, as though expecting them to rip it off of him at any moment.

The man looked at him critically, and Peter could just tell that he was wondering how a kid like him managed to get a watch like this. He probably thought that he’d stolen it.

Peter wanted to tell them. Wanted to tell them how it was special, how he made it with Mr Stark, using his own two hands, and that it could do so many cool things because it wasn't just a watch. But he couldn’t do that. Peter just stared back at him, unable to look away as he became trapped in a staring contest. Eventually Harrison scoffed and rolled his eyes, shaking his head probably at the fact that Peter was too stupid to answer even one question.

“Why doesn’t he talk?” Eugene asked loudly, nose scrunched up as he studied Peter distastefully.

Peter’s cheeks went red at the question, wishing he could go somewhere and hide for a bit. He wanted to get a way for a while, and he wasn’t selfish for wanting that, was he?

“He has issues, clearly.” Harry said, gesturing towards him as if his appearance answered everything. Maybe it did. Despite the harsh comment, Peter could see an understanding in both Harry and Jesse’s eyes, even if they offered him no pity or empathy, they could understand him. Which he was grateful for.

“We’ll work on the not talking thing today. You should be able to answer simple questions at the very least.” Rose cut in, and Peter felt a deep sense of dread fill him.

~~~~~

Peter was alone in the house.

Everyone had gone to school, Harrison to a friend’s house, and Rose- after interrogating him in her office about why he didn’t talk, and making notes on him like it was some sort of therapy session- had gone shopping. She’d told him to clean himself up and get into fresh clothes before going, of course after questioning why he hadn’t gotten into pajamas last night in the first place, with a knowing gleam in her eyes that told Peter she already knew why.

Finally being left alone in the house felt like a weight off of his shoulders, but it also left him feeling so incredibly small as he stood in the silence of another person’s home.

He opened the closet his bag was in, anxiously looking over his shoulder at the creaking sound even though he knew no one was there to hear it or stop him. He kneeled down on the floor, unzipping it just enough to slip his hand inside and hopefully tug out some clothes without making a mess. He dug around blindly, managing to fish out a shirt, before his fingers caught his phone charger.

His phone had died at some point during the long night, while he’d waited for a message that never arrived. The thought that the Starks, or even Collins, might have tried to contact him while it was dead sprung him into action, as he plugged his phone into the nearest socket available, mentally lecturing himself to make sure it was unplugged and hidden again before anyone got home. He really didn’t want to risk his phone being taken off of him.

He stared at the dark screen until it lit up at 4%, his face falling in despair when he was met with no new notifications.

Of course, he was stupid to think anyone would actually care about him. He wondered if Collins was even going to follow through with his promise and visit him today. All night, Peter had been hoping and imaging that if Collins came, and Peter asked really nicely, that he might take him back to the Starks. That dream was thoroughly crushed when reality came crashing back down on him as he stared at that empty screen.

He’d never go back to the Starks, they didn’t want him. If anything, he’d just be thrown into another home, with more people who didn’t like him. And another, and another, and it would just go on and on and on, Peter upsetting people and getting hurt in return, until eventually he either got thrown onto the streets at eighteen or he just gave up.

Give up.

Peter tensed, back straightening, before he turned and went back to his bag with a goal in mind, not even noticing the steady stream of tears falling down his cheeks, or the clenching of his heart as it thumped under the familiarity of a panic attack. He reached into it again, roughly digging around, and freezing when he finally felt and heard the crinkle of paper under his fingers.

Peter pulled the object out, a both mortified and shocked look on his face despite the fact that he’d been searching for it and he’d been the one to put it in the bag in the first place. In his hand, was the bag of prescription pills, the ones that he hadn’t spilt all over the floor those few days ago. He wasn’t sure what had influenced him to keep them, let alone take them with him here. Guilt? Impulse? But looking at the bag that contained a weeks worth of three different prescription pills, a sickening emotion resembling relief flooded him.

Peter’s chest heaved with each rotten breath his lungs involuntarily took, and his eyes still shed streams of tears, but other than that he simply felt nothing. Empty. Feelings didn't register with him, his chest felt hollow. There was nothing there, he had no heart. This emptiness was preferable to the ravishing pain he was normally in. He welcomed it.

He couldn’t do this anymore. He couldn’t keep going. He couldn’t keep living when he wasn’t wanted, and maybe, just this once, he could do the right thing for everyone. He could be good.

On auto pilot, he went through the motions of pulling out the nicest clothes he owned, before going upstairs to get changed into them. Fully dressed, shoes and all, he put his bag back into the closet and closed the door tidily. He didn’t want to leave mess.

Tears continued to fall as he did all of this, but other than them his face remained entirely expressionless, and his eyes as dead as a shark’s. He may as well have been already been gone to world.

He calmly sat down on the couch, the bag of pills still on the coffee table where he’d left them. It was weird how peaceful he felt, more relaxed than he'd been in years. A calm before a storm type of feeling. He remembered, when he was eleven and had done what he was about to do, he’d been panicked and scared, just wanting all of the pain to stop. But he wasn’t afraid now, and he sure as hell wasn’t a child.

Peter sat up straight, crossing his ankles over each other and neatly placing his hands on his lap. He closed his eyes, the complete silence of the apartment leaving him alone with his dangerous thoughts. He thought about how he wanted to be with his aunt and uncle, how he didn’t want to keep living this life, he didn’t want to suffer anymore and he didn’t want to continue burdening people with his very existence. This, this was the only right decision. This would fix everything. It would make it all better.

His hands shook violently as he picked up the bag of pills, opening all of them and squeezing them in his hand. There were a lot of them. This, this was the only way, this was the only way to be happy again, to see his aunt and uncle.

He almost dropped the first handful from the way his arm shook as he lifted his hand to his mouth, almost like his body was trying to stop him from doing it. Peter was still gasping in breaths from the ignored panic attack he was experiencing, so he choked when he shoved a hand full of pills straight down his throat. He swallowed desperately as some of them got stuck there, choking, wanting them gone, but once he had managed to swallow, he didn’t give himself a break to breathe as he shoved down another handful. And another and one more, the peacefulness he’d felt before gone as it was replaced by the sheer desperation to finish this.

Peter swayed on the seat, staring blankly into a space when he was done. His face getting paler and paler as the effects of what he’d just done took their hold. He was still, the entire room silent as though time had simply stopped ticking. A sickening anticipation until time started moving again. Too quickly.

A strangled cry escaped the teen’s lips, as he clutched at his stomach and fell to the floor on his knees. His stomach burned, cramps overtaking him and sweat and goosebumps covering his skin as his body realised what had happened.

He cried again, squealing, rolling on the floor in pain as it got worse. The boy grew scared, as his hand reached out for something or someone to help him with the pain until he remembered that he was completely alone.

“Ahhh,” he wailed pathetically, pressing his forehead to the floor and kicking his legs out in a useless attempt to try and get away from the pain coursing his body. He didn’t remember it hurting this much, why did it hurt so much? He just wanted everything to make everything stop hurting, not cause himself more pain.

Peter was thrown off by the burning agony, his vision turning a striking white. He grew scared, very scared, and he wanted someone to help him, he wanted someone to hold onto but he was alone. He screamed unfiltered in misery, hoping someone would hear his cries and come save him. No such luck.

The teen scrambled back up onto his knees, reaching blindly at the surface until he heard the thump of his phone falling to the floor. He grabbed it, barely able to see as he pressed one of the three contacts saved to his phone. The ringing went on forever and ever as Peter attempted to curl up into the smallest ball possible as he experienced the agony that was his organs shutting down. He did this, he did this to himself, he had no right to feel sorry for himself, but he just wanted comfort. He didn’t want to be alone, not anymore. He wanted- no, needed someone. He didn’t care who.

“Peter? Pepper it’s Peter!”

The teen’s blood shot eyes opened as he gasped in joy when he heard the voice, his fingers clutching the piece of metal. He heard Pepper in the background, running over to phone, and he heard Morgan crying. He never thought he'd be this happy to hear something so simple. Peter gasped out a tearful laugh, a bright smile on his face.

“Peter, sweetie? Are you okay, how are you doing?” The woman asked over the phone, and Peter closed his eyes as warmth filled his chest despite the situation. The smile he had was short lived as another whimper was stolen from him at another painful cramp in his stomach. His head lolled on the floor, his eye sight blurry and fading in and out.

He wasn’t aware enough anymore to realize the noises of pain he’d been making until he heard questions on whether he was okay coming from the phone.

“Kid? Kid, what’s going on, are you hurt? Did they hurt you?” Tony asked firmly, and the worry in both of their voices had the teen sobbing more as he imagined what could have been. In a way, the Starks had done one of the cruelest things to him. They'd given him hope and a taste of a better life just to take it away from him.

“I did wha’ you wan’ed.” Peter babbled deliriously, the words nearly incomprehensible as bile rose up in his throat. Peter hacked, choking on the liquid as he lay on his back. “I had ‘em.” He spurted, spitting some of the reddish liquid from his mouth.

“What? Had what?”

Peter’s brows scrunched up as he tried to figure out what he was being asked. “I had ‘em. ‘M sorry I di’n’t have ‘em before.” Peter closed his eyes in both despair and at the blazing pain in his head. He was sorry, he was so sorry he hadn’t taken them when Pepper and Tony told him to, he should have done this sooner. "'M sorry."

He heard reassurances that he didn’t do anything wrong, and further worried questions about what was going on, but at that point he couldn’t properly register what was being said in his swimming head.

“should’a done it sooner.”

Peter’s body suddenly stiffened, before a seizure took over him and he began to shake uncontrollably. His eyes rolled back into his head, and foam filled his mouth, terrifying animalistic noises accompanying them.

No one was there to help him.

~~~~~

Collins pounded on the apartment door, yelling for someone to let him in. He’d already been on his way to see Peter when he got the call. The call from two very distressed and worried Starks demanding that they get given the Thompson’s address or that Collins go over to check on Peter himself, because they were worried that he was hurt.

Ordinarily, Collins didn’t stress over things. He always worried over the kids in his care and got upset when they were hurt, but the panic in the couple’s voices had been enough to seriously concern him. They’d made it sound like the end of the world was near. He made the normally forty-minute drive across town in under thirty minutes and had run up the stairs two at a time.

Collins reached for the door handle at the lack of reply, and was surprised when he found it unlocked. He quickly pushed open the front door, his mouth opening to call out for someone again when a shocked yelp left him instead.

“Peter!”

A pale, unmoving body was sprawled across the floor.

Chapter Text

Flashes of lights, sirens, bleached white ceilings and strangers leaning over him.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

~~~~~

“Where is he!?”

Collins stood up from his seat in the waiting room when he heard the panicked voices at the front desk. He’d, of course, called the Starks to tell them what had happened right after he’d called an ambulance, and it hadn’t taken them long at all to arrive at the hospital. The Thompsons, however, still hadn’t shown up.

“Collins! Where is he?” As soon as Tony spotted him, he ran over, grabbing at his arm as he asked for answers.

“Is he okay?” Pepper asked from behind them, her heels clicking on the tiled floor as she raced over too, the same desperation in her eyes as in Tony’s.

Collins couldn’t blame them, he had been less than reassuring when he’d called and told them that Peter had overdosed and was being taken into hospital.

The teen had flatlined in the ambulance there, but the medics had blissfully been able to revive him not long after. After they’d arrived at the hospital, Collins hadn’t been allowed to follow as they rolled Peter away on a gurney. He had no idea whether the boy was okay or not, he hadn’t heard anything and things hadn’t looked hopeful last he saw of him.

“I- I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything.” He answered quietly, still in shock after the events of the last hour.

Pepper gasped in shakily, hands coming up to her mouth. Tony wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in closer.

“What happened again?” Tony asked, not knowing details just the very basics.

“Let’s sit down. Can they come into the waiting room?” Collins asked the lady at the front desk, and she looked too startled at seeing the grand entrance of the Starks to object.

Collins guided them to the waiting room where he’d been for the last ten minutes, making sure that they were both sat down before he began to break the news of how Peter had tried to commit suicide leading to a seizure, and for a few moments he’d succeeded as his heart had stopped until he was revived. By the end of it, Pepper was sobbing and Tony was pacing and Collins was shaking as the adrenaline left his body and he was left only with the mental image of Peter’s body collapsed on the floor.

No one really spoke for the next two hours. Well, at least not to each other. Collins continued to call the Thompsons but neither of them picked up, and Pepper excused herself for a few minutes whilst she called Happy who was watching Morgan.

Two hours, and then Rose showed up.

“How nice of you to visit. And just where have you been?” Tony deadpanned with a glare, standing up to round on the woman. Some part of him blamed her, she should have been watching Peter after all, and it was easy to place the fault on another person. Plus, her not showing up for a good two hours after she’d received multiple phone calls telling her that Peter was in hospital didn’t do anything to help his anger.

He wasn’t going to delve into his own feelings of guilt, at how he couldn’t help but feel responsible.

Peter's words of: ‘I did what you wanted’.

Needless to say, this hadn't been what Tony had wanted, he’d just wanted Peter to be healthy and happy and take his pills. He should have known that that day would come back to haunt him.

Rose looked past him, not bothering to respond, and instead spoke to Collins, “Is he alive?” She looked a little nervous, but not at all as worried and heartbroken as she should be given the circumstances.

“He... he should be. We don’t know, we haven’t heard anything yet.”

That statement rung true throughout the room, the sickening realisation that they really didn’t know if he was okay. What if he’d flatlined again? What if he was dead right now? There must have been damage to his organs, what if that was irreparable?

“I’m... I’m going to the front desk again to ask if they have any information yet.” Pepper said in way of dismissing herself, leaving to ask for what must have been the hundredth time in the past two hours.

“Where were you?” Tony demanded again, growing more frustrated as time went on with no news of the teen.

“Buying food, I’m sorry we can’t all afford to pay other people to do our shopping, Stark.” The woman snapped in response, crossing her arms in front of herself defensively.

“I don’t pay people to do my shopping, Pepper spends my money just fine on her own, thank you very much.” he replied with a scoff, “and I wasn’t talking about then, I meant where were you for the last two hours after you received a call telling you that a child tried- and almost succeeded- in committing suicide whilst under your care.” The words hurt to say, almost as much as the knowledge that Peter had technically succeeded in taking his own life, as his heart had stopped beating for a few seconds on the ambulance here.

Rose looked a little taken back for a second, clearly disorientated by the questions. But, like a lot of people- Tony included- did when backed into a corner, she bared her fangs and grew defensively hostile. She scoffed, “Don’t judge my parenting when I wasn’t the one who gave a teen, who’s tried to overdose before, a bag of pills and sent him off with them. If I had known he had them, I would have confiscated them immediately.”

Tony paled, looking towards Collins with a short, disbelieving huff of a laugh, because surely that wasn’t true. He must have heard that wrong because Peter hadn’t- Peter hadn’t done this before... he hadn’t... had he?

Collins looked at him with a questioning expression, clearly not understanding the man’s disbelief. Tony felt his stomach drop at the silent confirmation, and he felt his legs begin to buckle as he sat down in the nearest hospital chair.

Oh god, he’d- he’d-

Pepper had come up behind Rose, and she must have heard what had been said too as she looked just as suddenly ill.

A lump formed in Tony’s throat as he fought against throwing up. His head racing. Peter had tried to kill himself before, and this was apparently common knowledge.

That horrible afternoon came back to the forefront of his mind as he viewed it with a new light. Oh god, he’d yelled at the kid for not taking his medications. He'd yelled at poor Peter, who was probably fighting so hard against the urge to take the pills, to take all of them. He'd basically told him off for fighting to keep living. Peter probably thought that he wanted him to do this. Scratch that, he definitely thought that, as he’d said on the phone: ‘I did what you wanted’. 

This, this wasn’t what he’d wanted.

Tony felt like the worst person alive, and he needed to apologise to Peter. He needed to tell him that he loved him and would never ever want him to die. Needed to tell him that this wasn’t what he wanted, not in the slightest.

Peter had to be okay, because if he wasn’t... Tony didn’t know what he would do.

At that moment, as though sent to answer his prayers (or confirm his worst nightmares), a nurse walked into the room. "Peter Parker." she called, and instantly Tony swallowed down the sick making its way up his throat and stood back up.

Pepper cursed at the loud calling of the boy’s name in front of the other people in the waiting room, knowing that this would be hard to cover up now. There weren't many other people in the room- a group of three, a couple, and one lone person. It was easy to forget that they were there, as everyone had been stewing in their own grief and worry; they were in the waiting room for the ICU after all. But the other people had all looked up at the nurse’s entrance in the hopes that it was their loved one who’d be called, and so they’d surely all heard Peter’s name and could put the strings together that he was important to the Starks. If anyone had read the article Chase had published, this had pretty much confirmed it to be true. Pepper would be sure to have some NDAs handed out later, but for now she needed to find out if there was even a boy to protect anymore.

The nurse led the group of four to a small meeting room, and sat down in front of a computer to pull up Peter’s information. The suspense was horrible.

“Is he alive?” Pepper questioned in a quiet voice, and Tony had never heard her sound so timid before.

The nurse glanced up at her, and then back to the screen before beginning to talk. “Yes, yes he is.”

Tony could have cried in relief. The kid wasn’t dead. He'd get to apologise to him. Tony made a silent vow with himself that he’d make sure that the kid saw adulthood, even if it was the last thing he did. Peter was too young to die. He just couldn’t. He hadn't really even gotten to live yet. He hadn’t gotten to experience life.

“However, he is currently under a medically induced coma. We should be able to wake him up in a few days after the drugs he took leave his body so we can give him anaesthetic during his surgery without causing another overdose, and his body needs a rest so he can build up some strength first.”

Surgery?

At the confused looks, the nurse explained, “He caused significant damage to his liver and kidneys. And while the liver has the capability to regenerate injured tissue, he will need a kidney transplant. He has been put on a list, but the waiting times can range from anywhere between a few weeks to months and-”

“Take mine!” Tony cut in without a second of thought. He needed to make it up to the kid, and it was his fault that Peter was in this mess in the first place. Peter needed to be okay.

“Tony,” Pepper gasped, looking at him in shock. She understood why he wanted to do it, but she just couldn’t deal with both him and Peter being in hospital. As selfish as it was, she needed Tony, alive and healthy. And so did Morgan.

“Pep, Peter needs a kidney, and I’ve got two perfectly working ones right here.”  he poked himself in the stomach, “I have to do this.”

Pepper blinked at him, weighing the options in her head before closing her eyes and turning back to the nurse. “This won’t affect him in the future, will it?” she asked. Pepper had had to worry about Tony's health more than enough in the past, she didn’t want too again.

“People don’t need two kidneys to live a long and healthy life. So long as he takes good care of the other kidney, he should be absolutely fine.” The nurse said with a smile, understanding her worry. “Besides, we’d need to test whether you’re a compatible blood type for Mr Parker first, and if you’re physically and mentally healthy enough to donate anyways.’’

Tony scoffed with a smirk, “Everything that comes out of me is pure gold, it’ll be fine.”

Despite what he said, both he and Pepper knew that that could be a problem. She hated to think it, but the drinking binges he’d frequently had when he was younger combined with the palladium that once poisoned his blood could easily make him an unqualified candidate.

She supposed that left her with no choice but to be tested too, “I’d like to see if I’m eligible to donate as well.”

Tony opened his mouth to object, but the glare she shot him made him stop.

“Really? That’s fantastic news. Thank you for your offers, I'll give you a form and get you in for a physical examination as soon as possible.” the nurse said, clicking on the computer screen.

She printed off two forms for them to fill in, looking quite relieved that she wouldn’t have to add another patient to the long waiting list for a transplant donation.

“So he’s fine then? Great. Call me when he wakes up.”

Everyone turned to look at Rose as she stood up to go, a mixture of disapproving and surprised looks.

“You’re leaving?" Collins asked in a polite but sharp tone.

“He’s asleep, he won't care or know whether I’m here or not. Besides, I have other things to do, other kids to look after.” She didn’t look at them as she turned to leave, but she froze at Tony’s yell.

“Wait!” Tony looked back to the nurse, “are there any fresh injuries on him? Any signs of abuse?”

Rose opened her mouth and scoffed in anger at the accusation. She didn't abuse kids, she just helped make them better.

The nurse looked back to the screen detailing Peter’s injuries, looking past the ones that had already been catalogued from the teen’s last visit to the hospital. “There are some cuts on his right hand which look to have been made yesterday.”

Pepper pinned the other woman with a deadly glare, which would have sent most people running for the hills.

“Oh relax, he just dropped a plate and tried to pick the glass back up, I stopped him as soon as I noticed. Maybe you two are just projecting your own guilt onto me, because you two were the ones who gave a suicidal teenager the means to kill himself, not me.” Rose walked straight out of the door as soon as she said that, not waiting to see the damage those words inflicted on the already guilt-ridden couple.

~~~~~

Collins was finally allowed up to Peter’s room. It took a few hours of phone calls for the man to be given permission to go up, since the state was technically Peter’s legal guardian, and Collins needed consent from his advisors to get co-guardianship with the Thompsons back while the couple weren’t there.

Pepper and Tony weren't allowed to go up with him, not until visiting hours started tomorrow morning. They were desperate to see the teen, but they were both glad that at the very least Collins could be with him. It was heart breaking imagining the kid all alone in a hospital room. After Collins told them about the first time Peter had done this, Pepper had thrown up and cried as she wondered whether he had had any support or comfort from anyone then.

Because good god, he'd been eleven. A literal child, and he’d lost everyone he ever cared about. The people he’d been living with at the time had shunned him out and hadn’t once come to visit him, just social workers as they tried to find him someplace to live after he was evaluated by psychologists on whether he was too much of a danger to himself to be let out. He must have been so scared and alone. He must have felt so rejected and uncared for. Just a little boy with no one to help or hold him. A child who didn’t want to live his life anymore.

Pepper stared emptily into a space, her eyes and cheeks reddened with tears. It was later in the day now, coming up to seven on the night, and needless to say she was exhausted. They'd both just filled out a long list of forms detailing any medical problems they had, and then had some of their blood taken to be run with Peter’s. Of course, Pepper had had to fill out most of Tony’s form, since the man didn’t even remember his own birthday unless he thought really hard about it, let alone his social security number. Now, they were waiting to be told whether they were worthy candidates or not. Pepper hoped they were, it would be horrible if Peter had to wait for weeks to have a surgery and get out of hospital.

Tony had called Happy not long ago to check in on Morgan, and had jokingly asked the man whether they could have one of his kidneys if theirs failed. He hadn't actually meant it, but of course Happy, being Happy, had taken his job way too seriously and had agreed with an ‘I'll be expecting a pay raise by the end of the month’. Considering the fact that they’d dumped sole baby duties on the man whilst Morgan was going through a non-stop screaming phase, he could definitely be expecting a boost in his salary. But fortunately, Happy had said that he’d managed to get Morgan to sleep by driving around with her. So at least that was something.

Pepper looked up when she heard Tony let out another huff from next to her. The man was bouncing his leg, and fiddling with his hands. She knew that he currently felt useless, and wanted to do something with his hands to help Peter, but there wasn’t really anything that he could do.

She bumped his arm with hers, drawing his attention. “Hey,” she said softly, clearing her throat when her voice caught on just that one word.

Tony grumbled a ‘hey’ back, before returning to playing with his hands. Pepper reached over to hold his hand in hers to make him stop before he could grab the nearest item and throw it, because that had happened before.

Pepper studied his face, knowing exactly what was going on inside his head. “There was no way we could have known, we didn’t have his file.” She reasoned, repeating what she’d been saying in her own head for the last hours. “It’s not our fault.” She didn’t fully believe her own words, so she knew that there was no way that Tony, a person who often blamed himself for everything that went wrong and beat himself up over it, would believe her. She knew that he was probably thinking about what Peter had said on the phone, and the day where he’d yelled at the teen.

Tony snorted at her words, standing up and leaning with his hands on the wall, looking about ready to punch it. “I should have known though.”

“We should have been more careful, yes, but this isn’t a scenario anyone would like to imagine, let alone even consider.”

“The signs were there. I should have known.” He snapped, and Pepper stood up to wrap her arms around his waist. “I knew he was hurting himself, I should have seen this coming.”

Tony felt Pepper tilt her head up to look at him, and he closed his eyes in shame. He still hadn’t told her about Peter’s particularly bad coping mechanism.

“Remember the day when we went to the mall with him, and came back and the team was there? And you found us in the bathroom with him passed out in my arms? He had cut himself.”

Pepper pursed her lips, upset by the new information. She wasn’t sure if she was upset that Tony had kept it from her or not, but she was definitely upset. She stayed quiet to let him continue talking, knowing that he wasn’t finished.

“He- he cut his arm up. And I knew about it, I knew, yet I didn’t consider he would hurt himself in other ways too. Not like this. I didn’t want to betray his trust and tell you, and I thought I could help him on my own, I was stupid.” Tony put his hand to his mouth, the urge to throw up returning. He’d felt nauseous ever since he got that call from Peter this morning. It was all his fault that this happened. He should have done more.

“Oh, honey.” Pepper sighed, hugging him tighter. Any previous anger at him hiding this from her vanished as quick as it came. “It’s not your fault, you were upset and not thinking straight. And I’m sure Peter really appreciated knowing that he could trust you to keep a secret. I’m sure knowing that he had you in his corner really helped him. You did good, okay?”

Tony turned around in her arms to face her, his mouth opening to most definitely object but he stopped when a doctor walked in.

“Mr and Mrs Stark? I have your results here.”

Tony wrapped an arm around Pepper’s waist, both of them holding onto each other tightly.

They held their breaths as the nurse looked down to the clipboard. "I’m sorry, Mrs Stark, but your blood type isn't compatible with Mr Parker’s so you cannot give him your kidney. However, Mr Stark, you are a match. Your blood pressure is a little high, but that is to be expected given the current circumstances, and the GFR test shows there to be nothing wrong with your kidneys. There is no reason why you wouldn’t be able to donate.”

Pepper closed her eyes and lowered her head in disappointment. She'd been hoping that it would be her who’d have to have the surgery, since she didn’t want to have to worry about her husband’s health too. But at least Peter had someone, he was the one who mattered the most right now anyways.

Tony clapped his hands together, pleased that it was him and not Pepper who’d be doing it, “Perfect. So when can I expect to be carved into?"

~~~~~

They were finally allowed up to the teen’s room, after staying in the waiting room all night, waiting for visiting hours to begin. And needless to say, the elevator ride up was filled with anticipation and the desperate need to get to the boy.

Pepper and Tony held hands and quickly walked through the cold hospital corridors, pausing in front of room 616. The door was slightly ajar, Collins already in the room, and the man beckoned the hesitant couple in once he saw them stood there. As soon as Pepper caught sight of the teen she rushed over, hands hovering over him for just a moment, worried she’d hurt him, before gently resting them on the crown of his head.

Tony remained by the door though, completely frozen as he saw the boy whom he’d last seen just two days ago. It felt like it had been a lot longer. And last he'd seen the teen he hadn't looked like this.

Peter was even paler, if that were at all possible. His skin had a sickish undertone, ghostly, and emphasising the hollowness of his cheeks. The already too thin boy looked even smaller, absolutely tiny, in the white sheets of the hospital bed. There were wires going into his nose, and the dreaded IV- that Tony had promised to do everything to avoid- in his wrist. A bag of fluids hung on a poll by the wall, right next to a beeping machine which showed Peter’s heart rate. Thank God there was a heart rate to show.

Tony stumbled closer, a hand resting on the wall to keep himself steady as the guilt hit him at full force.

He put Peter in this hospital bed, it was his fault. He was the reason the boy looked so... so dead.

“Oh, Peter. Oh sweet, sweet, Peter." Pepper whispered, kneeling on the floor next to the bed and kissing the boy’s hand, before tightly holding it to her heart as she bowed her head down as though praying. "I am so, so sorry."

Collins stood up from the singular uncomfortable looking hospital chair, offering it up to the couple as he excused himself to give them some privacy. Tony couldn’t move from where he stood though. Too irrationally worried that if he took his eyes off of the kid, even for a second, he’d fade into dust.

~~~~~

“I need to tell you both something.”

Pepper looked up from where she was smoothing the teen’s hair for the twentieth time, and Tony looked from where he was feeding Morgan. The infant’s screaming phase had become non existed as soon as her parents had taken her into Peter’s hospital room.

Collins came back into the room with a displeased look, after just having stepped outside to take a call. "I just received word from the Thompsons, and they wanted to let me know that they do not wish to continue fostering Peter.” there was a definite grit of the man’s teeth, and a tenseness to his shoulders as he said this, clearly wanting to show anger at the situation but needing to remain professional.

Tony had no such filter.

“Sorry, what? Why the hell not?” In truth, Tony had been brainstorming ways to get the kid out of going back there, but with no signs of the boy being abused by them that hadn’t seemed to be a possibility. He should have been happy that the couple had made it easy for him, and had given up rights to the kid, but instead he just felt a boiling anger at the idea of another person turning Peter away. Turning the brightest, most polite, sweetest kid away. Then he realised that that was exactly what he and Pepper had done-

“They said that they can’t see it working out.” Collins deadpanned, shaking his head as he looked at the teen who had once again been rejected, dreading telling the boy the news that they had to find him somewhere else. "I'll start looking for the next place-”

“We’ll have him.” Tony cut in without a second of thought, catching his words a second too late as he looked to Pepper after, once again, deciding without her.

“You... you want to be his emergency placement again?” Collins was being careful, trying to make sure that he understood properly before jumping to any conclusions.

Pepper sucked in a deep breath, standing up to her feet. She looked to Tony, silently communicating with him, but they both already knew that they wanted the same thing.

“No. No, we don’t.” She started, and Collins' face visibly fell, looking disappointed. One last glance Pepper shared with her husband, before saying the truth that would change their lives forever. Change it for the better. "We want him to stay for, well, for forever.” Pepper glanced lovingly back to the unconscious, unaware teen, before turning back to the taken aback social worker with a soft smile.

Collins’ mouth opened and closed, as hope and excitement coursed through him that what he’d been hoping for finally came true. "You want to foster him full time?”

Tony held his arm, that wasn’t holding Morgan, out for Pepper to come to him. The woman pressed herself into his side, both of them sharing matching grins. "We want to adopt him." Tony completed their thought, the words sounding not so scary out in the open as they had in his head.

Collins gasped out a short laugh, a delighted smile on his face. He always loved seeing his kids go to loving homes, and he knew for sure that the Starks would be that for Peter. He just knew that the boy would be elated when he heard, and he couldn’t wait to see it. After three years in the system, the teen deserved this more than anyone.

Tony had grown nervous at the man’s reaction, hurriedly adding “If that’s possible of course. We can do that, right?”

“Yes, yes you absolutely can. He is available to adopt.” The man laughed happily, holding out his hand to shake the other two’s. Tony and Pepper laughed happily too, relief flooding through them both at the confirmation that they could actually do this. “You need to be absolutely sure you want this before we start though, it’ll take a lot of work and Peter does not deserve to be given false hope just to have it taken away.” Collins’ tone was sterner than they’d heard it before, an underlying warning there. It would have freaked Tony out and made him question whether this was a good idea or not if he didn’t want it this much.

“We’re sure. We know it will take a lot of work, but we both want nothing more than for Peter to become a permanent part of the family.” Pepper reassured with a charming, honest smile.

Collins immediately softened, hearing the truth in those words. He was so incredibly pleased at this turn of events. “Then this is excellent news. Congratulations to the three of you. I’ll do everything I can to make this transition easy on all of you.” He promised, already itching to get on the phone to his advisers and prepare to start the adoption process.

“Thank you, Collins.”

~~~~~

Peter was being weaned off of the sedatives keeping him under a coma, after having four days of rest. The doctor said that he should wake up by the end of the day, and to call if there were any problems. Obviously, Tony and Pepper weren't leaving the boy’s side any time soon, and they were both endlessly glad that they’d managed to get Peter into SI’s medical wing, so that they could be with him all the time now, (Peter had been moved to SI medical wing two days ago, under Collins’ jurisdiction, because he could receive better care there and could be under FRIDAY’s full 24/7 watch while it was determined whether he was still a risk to himself or not).

Collins came in and out checking up on them, updating them on everything with Peter’s case. He’d given them a shit load of files to sign, and the man seemed more excited about Peter getting adopted by them than perhaps even themselves. But both Pepper and Tony had agreed to wait until Peter woke up to ask him whether he actually wanted to be adopted by them or not, before they filled anything in. They were both so incredibly excited at the prospect of getting Peter as their son, but the dreadful nerves that he’d refuse them or turn them away was suffocating. He had every right to reject them, and they’d accept it if that was what he wanted. The possible heartbreak was worth the risk though.

Pepper held the teen’s hand tightly in hers, and leaned forward from the chair she was sat on to rest her head on the bed. Tony paced the room, looking to see what time it was every ten seconds as time moved so very slowly while they waited. His midsection still ached from having his kidney removed, and he kept one hand over it. He was, technically, still supposed to be on bed rest until tomorrow morning, but since he was the one who employed the medical staff here, they couldn’t exactly force him. Pepper had objected at first, but he’d argued his case saying that he was still in a hospital and he felt absolutely fine. He was pretty sure the only reason she agreed to let him stay was because she wanted- needed- him with her when Peter woke up.

Peter had received the transplant yesterday, despite their original plans to wait until he woke up and explain what was going to happen. It had seemed overly cruel to wake the kid up just to put him back into a sleep to have a surgery. Not to mention that Peter would surely be terrified by the idea, considering he was scared to even be asleep in front of people, let alone medically induced whilst strangers cut into him. It was easier this way, and Peter would already have enough going on in his head when he woke up to worry about that. Now they could move straight into helping him recover mentally, if that were at all possible.

Tony didn’t want the kid to know that he was the one who’d given him a kidney, and they had agreed to say that it was an anonymous donor. He didn’t want the kid to feel like he owed him anything. So, Tony was keeping a brave face on, to hide the fact that his entire midsection currently ached from having his organs moved around.

Unfortunately, Peter was taking his damn time to wake up. Maybe Tony was just being antsy and impatient, but another look at the time showed that the kid had been estimated to wake up forty minutes ago. Tony was just about to suggest to the half-asleep Pepper that they call for a doctor to check everything was alright, when a small whimper filled the room.

Peter’s hand twitched in Pepper’s.

Chapter Text

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

All he could make out was a methodical beeping.

His entire body felt like cotton, like he wasn’t really connected to it, as he surfaced into consciousness. He could faintly hear a whine, and the painful vibrations in his dry throat led him to understand that it was him who’d made the sound.

As more awareness came to him, he made out the feeling of feather light touches to his hand and forehead, like someone was stroking his hair. Peter whimpered again, and flexed his fingers. He heard a gasp and someone shuffling, and the beeping sound picking up in speed along with his heartbeat.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

He didn’t know where he was, he just knew he wasn’t supposed to be there.

A horrible aching pain across his entire midsection suddenly assaulted him at full force, making him wince. The pain reminded him of just what he’d done, or tried to do, and despite his brain still being foggy with sleep he knew he’d fucked up. Big time.

Shovelling pills down his throat, choking.

He wasn’t supposed to still be here…

“Peter? Peter, it’s okay sweetie, you can wake up now.”

Again, the boy whimpered. The garbled voice sounded far too close to him for comfort, and he felt a shiver rack his entire body in fear. A voice, which was trying to pull him away from the safety that the darkness had to offer, and back into the light.

Hand trembling, grasping, clawing for help.

He wasn’t supposed to wake up. He didn’t want to.

The beeping became louder and quicker, creating an incessantly annoying sound that drilled on the freshly wakened nerves.

Beep beep beep beep beep.

“Peter,” the voice called again, sounding much more distinct now. He felt the hand return to his forehead and he flinched, tears rolling from his firmly shut eyes. The hand trailed down the side of his face, gentle and soft, wiping at the fresh tears.

The teen trembled in terror, overcome with dread at what was going to happen to him now. He’d failed, he’d failed once again at ending everything. He couldn’t even die properly, couldn’t do the world that one favour. How had he messed it up a second time?

“Come on, sweetheart, open your eyes for us. Please. Open your eyes.”

No. No, no, no, no, no. He wasn’t supposed to open his eyes ever again. He’d ruined everything. He’d failed. Peter squeezed his eyes closed even tighter, pressing himself as far into the bed as possible and turning his head away from the terrifying touches, pulling at a wire attached to his nose. He couldn’t open his eyes, he just couldn’t, because as soon as he did he’d be back in the real world and would have to pay for what he’d done.

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep.

“Pepper…” A different voice spoke, and he felt the soft hand retreat and a short cry filling his ears take its place.

Hearing another person cry made him want to help, especially as the name Pepper ignited something in him. Pepper… Pepper… Stark? No, no it wasn’t them. He couldn’t remember exactly, but he knew that they’d left. Still, the idea of someone being upset made his chest hurt, and for a moment he allowed his eyes to flicker open in an attempt to find the person who was sad and see if he could help make them happy again. That didn’t get very far as he slammed them back shut at the very bright light that was allowed to slip through, making his head pound.

“FRIDAY, hangover protocol, darken out the windows to 30%.” The different voice spoke again, and Peter was now aware enough to recognise that it was a man speaking.

His brain was still putting everything together, new memories coming to the surface at a mile a second as he recalled everything that had happened over the last two weeks to get him to this point.

Horrible, traumatising memories of getting hurt so suddenly, so brutally, by the Carsons that no one could stifle the agonising screams that were torn from him. The scream that had the neighbours calling the cops, leading to him finally escaping. Scary hours at the hospital after, being questioned by officers and having pictures taken of his injuries for evidence. Then, blissfully, nice memories. Memories that made his chest feel warm when he thought about them. Watching his favourite movies again with the Starks, working in the lab with Tony and painting his nails with Pepper. Going for a walk to the lake, and being hugged- without any sinister intent behind it- for the first time in years.

Until he was taken away again.

“Mmmm,” he moaned, his eyebrows scrunching up in pain at the memory of being taken to the Thompsons. Of being utterly terrified and alone once again.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay.” The first voice said, in a gentle humming tone. He didn’t feel anyone touching him again, but he could now make out that the person talking was close to his left, and when he focused hard he could sense a slight dip in the bed. The bed… He didn’t remember feeling this warm and comfortable when he’d gone to sleep. Of course, they must have moved him.

His breaths were deep, and he could hear the beeping slow back down to a more agreeable rhythm. Peter’s hand twitched again, as his head told him to find out where he was but his weakened body wasn’t capable of more than the small movement. He felt the dip in the bed move closer to him, and a hand be placed right by his. His first instinct was to pull his hand away and get as far back as possible, but the other part of him, wanting someone to hold onto, had him lifting his fingers to numbly place on top of theirs.

The person let out a short sob, which had the boy deepening his frown in worry and slide his hand further over the other one. The person tightened their hold of his hand, and placed a kiss on it.

“Oh sweetie,” The person whispered, “sweetie please wake up for us. We’ve missed you so, so much. Please, open your eyes.”

Peter whined, feeling bad at hearing how desperate the person sounded for him to wake up. Especially as the person sounded a lot like Pepper. He knew it wasn’t her though, because Pepper and Tony didn’t care about him, and they most certainly didn’t miss him. But he was quite content to stay in this dream-like state and pretend that, just for a moment, someone actually cared about him. He’d be more than happy to sleep, sleep forever and never ever wake up. That had been the plan after all, had it not?

That is why, he let the person slide up next to him, to press their body against his and lightly wrap an arm around his shoulders. Because he was scared, terrified, and he’d accept any form of comfort from pretend-Pepper while he could before he was forced back into reality and everything turned to shit again. Maybe, if he pretended hard enough, what he wanted could become a reality.

He felt the body next to him shake with suppressed cries, and it didn’t take very long at all for him to crack open one eye, just slightly, to see who was so upset. This time round he wasn’t caught off guard by blinding lights, it was dimmer, dim enough for him to keep his eyes slitted open for a bit longer this time, staring at the woman who was currently holding him.

His sight was blurry, more so than usual (Peter was pretty sure he needed glasses) but this time it only took him blinking a few times for things to come back into focus. He saw auburn hair cascading down in front of him, and when he squinted a little harder he could make out the face of a woman crying. Peter wanted to reach out and comfort her but found that his body currently couldn’t move. He watched the woman for a few moments, his brain working on figuring out where he recognised her from and why he was oddly comforted by her presence, until she opened her blue eyes and looked back down at him and it clicked.

The woman, Pepper, gasped at seeing him awake, before, much to the teen’s confusion, smiling happily and gasping out a laugh. “Oh,” She cooed, “there’s those beautiful eyes.”

Peter blinked up at her, disconcerted and his eyebrows scrunched in concentration.

“Rise and shine sleeping beauty,” another person said, and Peter managed to tilt his head ever so slightly to the side to see Tony stood by the wall. “You’ve been out for quite a while.”

“Mmm,” the teen whimpered, eyes scanning the room he was in with fear. Tears soon filled his eyes, and the whimper turned into broken sobs as he was oh so confused and scared. Where was he? Why was he here? Why were Tony and Pepper here, had they come to hurt him? Surely they must hate him now. He remembered calling them before he passed out. “‘M sorry, ‘m s-so so-orry.” He choked, breaking down even more so when the words hurt his throat. He was sorry for causing trouble, he was sorry for not being able to do anything right, he was sorry for even existing in the first place.

Pepper shushed him and began to run her fingers through his hair, but all Peter felt was the overwhelming need to run away and hide. Because no, no, no, bad things were going to happen; he’d been bad.

But he couldn’t get his body to co-operate, he was drowsy, and even so he was too terrified to even try to escape and anger them. Pepper tightened her hold on him, hoping to lessen his distress, but all it did was scare him more as he felt even more trapped. As if to worsen everything, the door to the room chose that moment to open, two other people walking in, adding to his panic.

Helen Cho had been alerted as soon as Peter started to wake up, but she’d waited outside to let him come to on his own before hitting him with the medical side of things. But, hearing his distress, she had a nurse prepare a valium. It wouldn’t put him to sleep again, but it would relax him enough just while they talked about everything that had happened.

She knocked lightly on the door, gesturing for the nurse to follow her in, and was met with a shrill scream from the teen.

The nurse immediately went over to the bag of fluids connected to the boy and administered the valium, while Cho went over to the patient and placed a glass of water on the table next to him. The valium was quick to take affect, Peter already being weakened and tired from the combination of a surgery, coma, and panic attack, and it wasn’t long until he settled into just staring blankly at the ceiling with a few remaining tears continuing to fall.

He was now leant against Pepper, his head on her stomach, and was letting her pet his hair again as his eyes got droopy with sleep.

“Peter?” Helen called, and the teen glanced over to her, the heart rate monitor still beeping faster than what was considered normal.

The boy’s eyes widened slightly when he realised that holy shit that was Helen friggin Cho. As in, Helen Cho, world-renowned geneticist and leader of the U-GIN. If he’d been been physically capable of it, the teen would have swooned, told her how awesome she was, but the most he managed was just the slight opening and closing of his mouth and keeping his eyes intently fixed on her.

“Nice to see you’re back with us, would you like some water?” She passed the glass to the teen, who let Pepper sit him up so that he was lying back against her.

Peter lifted the glass to his parched mouth, because if Helen friggin Cho was telling him to drink then he’d damn well do it, even if it did really hurt to swallow.

“Small sips.” Pepper whispered, pressing a kiss to his head.

Peter’s eyelashes fluttered as he blinked up at her, doing as Pepper said and taking just a small sip of water. When done, he placed the glass back on the table, and settled back to his spot against Pepper, not having it in him to be too petrified of punishment anymore as the valium did its job. He was still terribly confused though.

“Peter, do you remember why you’re here?” Cho asked, and the teen frowned and shook his head, not even knowing where he was. “No? Do you not remember what you did before you went to sleep? With the pills?”

Peter immediately flushed, understanding dawning on him about what she meant. He nodded and turned his head to hide his face against Pepper, not wanting to see the disgust that was surely on all of their faces.

“Well it severely damaged your kidneys so we had to perform a transplant. It was an anonymous donation, so I can’t disclose who gave it to you, but you underwent surgery yesterday and it was successful.” She informed, and Peter looked down to his stomach in horror. Someone had… given him a kidney? If he’d been paying attention, he would have seen the meaningful look Tony and Pepper shared, like they were hiding something from him.

Cho continued to go into details about what had happened, most of it going over the teen’s head as he continued to stress over the fact that he’d been in surgery and someone had given up a part of themselves for him.

Tony, seeing the expression on the kid’s face, shuffled over to the hospital bed, and leant against the wall by it, ruffling the teen’s hair. He didn’t want the boy to feel bad, that was why he didn’t want the kid to know that it was him who’d given him a kidney in the first place.“Don’t worry kiddo, the other person is just fine now and was happy to help.”

Peter noticed the limp in the man’s steps as he walked over, and the mild discomfort on his face, and he instantly became worried at the prospect of Tony being hurt. Because he couldn’t be hurt, why would he be hurt? He didn’t deserve to be hurt, had someone hurt him? Peter’s breath hitched at the mere idea of someone hurting Tony, and outstretched his hand to grab onto him, but his fingertips ended up only just scraping the material of the man’s shirt.

Tony blinked in confusion at the kid’s expression, but when he looked down to where the boy’s hand was lingering over his stomach, understanding dawned on him and his heart softened and warmed with absolute love. How in the hell was this kid- this kid who’d been hurt and just woken up from a coma- worried about him, a grown man who last he remembered had sent him away? Peter was… Peter must be fucking crazy in the best way possible, and Tony wanted to make a protective bubble for him to block out the rest of the world, because good god somebody protect this damn kid. This literal angel. As far as Tony was concerned, the boy was too good for this world.

Tony swallowed down those thoughts and put on an air of carelessness, waving away the boy’s unnecessary worries. “Tripped over yesterday, bruised my side, don’t worry about it, worry about yourself.” Yes, worry about yourself, because you need to get better.

Peter stared at him, and for a moment it was sort of like he was staring straight into Tony’s very soul, but the moment ended when the teen gave him a soft weak smile and let his eyes flutter shut. Exhaustion must be catching up to him.

“Go to sleep, sweetie, you’ll feel better when you wake up.” Pepper advised, placing another kiss atop the teen’s head. Peter’s eyes barely fluttered open again at the affectionate gesture, but even if they did it didn’t last very long before he did as instructed and allowed himself to slip back into sleep. His breathing evened out, and finally, the heart rate monitor slowed down as he allowed himself to relax.

~~~~~

It was the next day, and Tony and Pepper were going back up to Peter’s room, walking speedily down the corridoors before they could pause or second guess what they were about to do. Tony was carrying Morgan in her baby carrier, a balloon tied to the seat which Happy had bought for them to give to the kid. They’d stayed with the teen all night but left Peter an hour ago to both give the teen some space and prepare for the big question they were going to ask him.

They were finally going to ask Peter whether he wanted to stay with them. Forever.  
 
Needless to say, they were both sweating bullets right now. And Tony found himself questioning whether this trumped meeting Morgan for the first time, in terms of nerves, before deciding that it was too completely different feelings. With Morgan he hadn’t had to worry that she’d reject him, just that he’d fuck up and he wouldn't do right by her.
 
“Ahh, there you two are.” Collins was outside of Peter’s room, a bag held in his hand.  

“You’ve been looking for us? I shouldn’t be worried, should I?” Tony joked halfheartedly, too busy trying not to break down as a hundred scenarios of the boy saying no to them played through his head.
 
“Hi Collins.” Pepper said with a polite smile. She and Collins had hit it off quite well over the last week at the hospital, but Tony could tell that, like him, the only thing she currently cared about was getting an answer to their question. Pepper glanced at the door behind the man, but, unlike him, she had the patience of a saint and turned her attention back to the man. “Can we help you?”
 
“Yes, I umm, I have something here for Peter. I got his things back from the Carson’s.” 
 
Their faces dropped in surprise, before turning into shared smiles. Finally, they could keep the promise that they’d made him. Peter was going to be so happy. “Really? That’s great!” Pepper exclaimed.
 
Collins held up the beaten up backpack, that had certainly seen better days, for them to see. “Sorry it took so long. I went over and the Carsons had thrown everything out from the window. I found his backpack still in the alley below, but there wasn’t anything else there except a few shirts. Thankfully-” Collins zipped open the bag, pulling something out. “The camera he mentioned was in the bag, the lens was cracked from the drop but otherwise it was fine. That’s why I took so long, I was having it fixed.” 

Collins held the camera out to the couple, and Pepper accepted it from him, knowing that Tony wouldn’t. She looked at the cheaply made camera like it was the most precious object in the world, because to Peter it was, so as far as she was concerned it was very important. It had been hand-painted a light blue, the paint faded and scratched in places, showing that it had been done a good few years ago. On top of the paint were loads of doodles made via a black marker. The doodles were clearly done by a child, a child that was- safe to say- likely Peter, and Pepper grinned when she saw a drawing of the Iron Man helmet by the on/off button. “Thank you, he’s going to be thrilled, I’m sure.”

Tony clenched his jaw in anger at the reminder that the kid’s stuff had been with those people all of this time, and that they’d tossed the boy’s things away like trash and had almost succeeded in taking away another thing from Peter. The camera could have easily been stolen or broken. Really, people needed to stop reminding him that the Carsons were currently under house arrest somewhere in New York, because it would be way too easy for him to track them down and pay them a visit of his own. The only reason he hadn’t yet done that was because Pepper had convinced him that they’d more than get their due when they got to the court hearing, and that Tony wouldn’t be able to see that if he was behind bars for attempted murder. “Did you call in about this?” He asked, because them purposely breaking the teen’s property couldn’t go unaccounted for.

“Yes, it’s been filed as further evidence against them.” Collins nodded. Michael Carson was already doomed, since his DNA had been found inside of Peter through a rape kit, and Peter was a minor so there was no way he could get away without anything. But the more things they could get him sentenced for, the better. That monster deserved to rot in hell, and his wife wouldn’t be let off either.

Pepper went to hand the camera back to Collins but he refused it. “No, no. I want you two to give it to him.” He said with a smile, pushing the woman’s hand back towards her. Before either of them could question it or object, he extended: “You are still planning on asking him whether he wants to be adopted, aren’t you?” He asked this in a low voice, making sure that the teen inside of the room behind him couldn’t hear.
 
“Yes, we were on our way to do that just now actually.” Tony said, inching towards the door. The longer he was away from the teen the more anxious he felt. He physically needed to have the boy in front of him to know that he was okay and not almost dying again.

“Perfect! Then giving this to him should surely make a wonderful start.” Collins finished with a grin, and both Tony and Pepper had to admit that that was pretty perfect. Giving the kid what they’d promised him on the very first night, on the day that they- hopefully- made him family was too good to pass up.

Pepper smiled gratefully, running a finger over the chipped paint. “Thank you.” She repeated with earnest.

Collins nodded his head, and stepped to the side, allowing them entry. “Best of luck, not that I think you need it. Everything will work out in the end, just be patient.”
 
~~~~~

Peter was sat up in the bed, a tray of food in front of him but he was mostly just picking at it. Not to say that it was bad food or anything, he was actually unsurprised to find that the hospital food in SI was bounds above ordinary hospital food, it was healthy gourmet meals everyday. But he felt sick and he wasn’t hungry, plus the amazing view of the city from the floor to ceiling windows was much more interesting to him than breakfast.  
 
Peter had been staring out of the window for the past twenty minutes, just watching the busy streets far down below. He couldn’t believe that he was in Stark Tower. How many times had he walked or drove past this building- be it called Stark Industries, or Avengers Tower- and said to his aunt and uncle ‘one day I’m going to work in there’? He had to stay here being monitored until he wasn’t considered an immediate risk to himself anymore, but he could certainly think of worse places to stay (the psychiatric ward he’d been put in for two weeks when he was eleven came to mind).
 
He’d been given the clothes he was wearing then back. Well, most of it back. He still felt heat burn his cheeks when he remembered Pepper and Tony’s confusion at seeing that the string from his hoodie, the laces from his shoes, and his belt had been taken. Confusion which turned to barely contained mortification when they were lightly told by frigging Helen Cho that it was to stop him from hanging himself. 

Ever since Collins came to visit him yesterday and told him that the Thompsons didn’t want him anymore, his chest had hurt and the sense of impending doom had been left hanging above him. But otherwise, he accepted it with as much grace as he could muster because really, what else could he have expected from them? Why would they still want him after what he’d done? He could still remember Miss Hannigan’s words from when he’d done this at eleven, scolding him and telling him what a mess he was. And his then social worker’s look of pity and mild annoyance that she’d have to find him another place to stay.

Why didn’t they let him die? He just made everything harder for everyone, and took up space. They should have let him die, that would be the merciful thing to do.
 
Peter closed his eyes and dipped his head, moving the tray away and scooting over on the bed so that he was sat on the edge of it and directly in front of the window. His legs dangled off of the bed and he stretched them out, something that was much needed after not moving much for the past five days.

He placed a hand on his stomach, biting down on his lip as the dulled pain from the surgery existed as a constant reminder of just what he’d tried to do and what it led to. Someone out there, had tried to do a good deed. Had donated a kidney so that someone else could live. And Peter- stupid, underserving, ungrateful Peter- had taken it even though there were hundreds of better people out there who actually wanted to live who could have had it. Peter had selfishly taken it from someone else, and now that person’s kindness had been for nothing. He couldn’t even thank them.

Peter swallowed down the bulge in his throat, rocking back and forth, and clenching the bedsheets to try ground himself. He couldn’t very well scratch and scrape at his arms when he was being closely watched for any reason to throw him into an asylum no doubt, now could he?

He huffed in a strained breath, staving off the panic and tears that were building up. Opening his eyes, he was met with the sight of rain drops beginning to fall from the dark clouds above and hit the glass. Huh, some great Pathetic Fallacy right there. What great energy created in the studio today. Seriously though, it was a beautiful sight being so high up in the sky, practically in the darkened clouds himself, and watching the rain fall far down to the streets below. He liked rain, it was refreshing, it made his skin feel less dirty. And if he closed his eyes and imagined it hard enough, he could feel it cooling his skin, and could hear the New York traffic that was surely causing chaos down there. He probably wouldn’t get to go outside for sometime now after his recent actions (or ever again, really he wouldn’t blame anyone if they locked him in a room and left him to die there). But that was fine, outside there were people. And people ruined everything.

A knock on the door had his eyes flying open and his head snapping round. He felt guilt fill him at his previous thought, when Pepper, Tony and Morgan came in. They didn’t ruin everything, quite the opposite actually. Peter had come to accept that there were actually some nice adults, and the Starks were included in that. They’d have to be, considering that they’d still stuck around after what he’d done, and not only hadn’t hurt him yet, but were also letting him stay in their tower’s private medical floor instead of a hospital. But, people like him didn’t deserve to be around good people, which was why he’d ended up in the situations he had. Or he just made normally good people do bad things because he was just that fucking detestable, which unfortunately seemed like the more reasonable explanation because Peter didn’t believe in fait.

Peter gave the couple a thin smile, turning so that he was sat crossed legged on the bed again, and facing them both. He didn’t know how much longer the Starks would keep bothering with him, but he’d enjoy it while he could. As silly as it sounded, he’d missed them a lot over the last hour they’d been gone. The quiet without them had left him a little too at the mercy of his own thoughts for his liking.

“Oh, you’re dressed! That’s good, sweetie.” Pepper praised, walking over to him with her hands behind her back, holding something. With one hand she reached out and tucked a stray curl of hair behind his ear, the ends of the hair slightly wet from Peter rinsing his face in the sink whilst they’d been gone. Peter smiled softly at the affectionate gesture that he’d missed, but otherwise he was far too concerned with what the woman was possibly hiding behind her back, worst scenarios coming to his mind.

Tony placed Morgan’s carrier on the side table, and Peter tilted his head in question at the balloon tied to the seat, as Tony pulled a chair closer to the teen’s bed and sat down in it with Morgan. “It’s from a friend, you’ll probably meet him at some point.” He explained, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Peter will probably meet Happy, if he says yes to staying with them that is…

Peter’s face showed obvious confusion, but he smiled gratefully regardless even as he wondered why on earth someone he’d never met would get him a balloon. Still, he did feel a childish sense of glee at the idea of having one. Peter turned his attention back to Pepper who was lightly sitting down at the end of the bed. Peter pulled his knees up to his chest so that his legs wouldn’t be in her way.

“We’ve got something here for you, sweetie.” Pepper smiled, placing the backpack on the bed in between them. “We kept our promise.” She was incredibly glad to finally be able to say that. Really, it had been irritating how long it had taken to get it but now this felt like it had come at the perfect time. Peter needed a win today.  
 
She saw the exact moment that Peter realised what it was when recognition flashed through his eyes and he reached out for it. Peter’s hand grabbed for the bag and pulled it over to him, only pausing to look up at the two adults for permission before he went any further. Pepper nodded encouragingly for him to carry on, trying not to show her upset at how he felt the need to ask for permission to touch his own stuff.  
 
Peter unzipped it and they could both tell that he was looking for something specific, something that he was quick to find as it was right at the top from when Pepper had been holding it just outside in the corridor. The camera, which he’d made a specific request for as his first words to them.  
 
A beautiful smile brightened the boy’s face, endearing dimples appearing in his cheeks.  
 
“Is that good, bud?” Tony asked with a matching smile. Peter’s smile was very much infectious.
 
Peter looked towards him and nodded happily, before doing something unexpected and sitting up onto his knees and holding his good arm open towards Tony in a sign that he wanted a hug. The man ached and really didn’t fancy leaning over and stretching his stomach, but there was no way in hell that he’d ever refuse a chance to hug the teen. Especially not when he could see a slight bit of nervousness in the boy’s Bambi eyes, like he was worried about being rejected. Tony moved Morgan into his other arm and leaned forward in the chair to wrap his arms around the teen’s skinny body.  
 
Peter pressed his face into the man’s neck, closing his eyes as he felt the man pat his back reassuringly. “Thank you.” Peter mumbled, the first thing he’d said since he’d woken up other than ‘I’m sorry’. It was a massive relief to the two adults.  
 
“It’s alright.” Tony replied weakly, fighting not to melt right there on the spot. Peter sniffled, rubbing at his eyes before gently pulling away and turning to face Pepper. The woman instantly opened her arms up for him, and Peter fell forwards into her chest, wincing at the movement of his aching body. Tony made a mental note to ask Cho if it was possible to numb that area without Peter knowing, because the teen really didn’t deserve to be in any pain at all.  
 
Pepper kissed the side of his head repeatedly, rocking them both back and forth.
 
Peter picked the camera back up when he pulled away, his thumb rubbing the scratched paint on the side. “I ma-made it.” The teen confessed quietly, glancing up at the two of them before back down to the camera with a shy smile. 
 
“You did?” Pepper asked curiously, tilting her head. Not knowing if she’d understood that right.  
 
“Mmhm, w-when I w-was nine.” Peter turned it on and huffed happily when the screen lit up with 12% battery left. The fact that he made it wasn’t the only reason he wanted it back so badly, but it was also because he’d gone through a phase of recording everything he did when he was nine and ten, and so the camera had a lot of pictures of his aunt and uncle and his best friend from elementary, Ned.  
 
“Huh, really.” Tony said, not in disbelief but in admiration. The kid making it at nine would explain why it was a slightly odd shape, but it was never the less amazing that the boy had been able to make it with likely meagre materials and help. “That’s real cool, nice job kid.” 
 
Peter gushed at the praise, dipping his head and smiling shyly. Just as he did the screen loaded and he had access to all of the photos and videos again, and he gasped out a laugh when he pressed on the first one. Tears fell from his eyes when he looked at it and saw that it was a picture of him and Ben in the park at a charity fundraiser, absolutely covered in mud but laughing happily. He’d seen the photos millions of times before, as he used to look at them every night when the homesickness was particularly bad, but he’d missed them lots and he’d been scared he’d never get them back. 
 
Pepper leaned over to see what had the teen so teared up, and completely melted when she saw. “Is that you?” She asked gently, pointing at the little boy in the picture. They had the same doe eyes and wild hair, only difference was how happy and carefree the child looked. “Look how cute you are.” She gushed, bumping the teen lightly with her arm. Peter tiredly rest his head on her shoulder with a smile, his cheeks dusted pink. “And who’s that?” Pepper asked curiously, pointing at the man stood with his arms wrapped around the boy. She studied the man’s face and saw slight similarities to Peter, and wondered if this was his father.

“M’uncle Ben.” The boy mumbled sleepily, and Tony’s head snapped up at the name. So that’s who Ben is. Tony didn’t know where the man was now, but he hoped that he’d been good to the kid at least. Now wasn’t the time to ask more about him, as much as Tony wanted to though.

Pepper and Tony exchanged a meaningful look, and the man took a deep breath before moving on with their plan. “Oh I think Morgan needs changing. Peter, d’you mind undressing her while I grab a diaper?”

Peter tilted his head, confused at why he was the one being asked, but nodded his head and moved back on the bed so the infant would be safer with him anyways. Tony placed the baby in his arms, feeling a little guilty for waking her up from her much needed snooze, but it was for a good reason. Tony turned to the baby bag to grab a ‘diaper’, eagerly watching the teen from the corner of his eyes.

Peter lay the baby across his lap, pulling a purposely funny face at her when she blinked up at him. The teen gently unzipped the flowery baby grow she was wearing, feeling a little on edge as he could feel both Pepper and Tony’s eyes on him, but he shrugged it off. They probably just wanted to make sure he didn’t fuck up and drop her or something. Under the baby grow, was a white cotton vest top, customised to say a certain message in bold blue font. Peter had to reread the message, then once more, and once more again, before finally looking up at the completely silent couple with a confused face. He looked like he was about to cry again, and both Pepper and Tony worried that he was mad at them.

Pepper put on a tight smile and reached to hold his hand, relieved when he didn’t pull away. Tony had come back over with some documents in hand, and gently placed them on the bed in front of the boy before sitting back down in the chair by the bed.

Peter peered down at the letters, his eyes widening when he saw what they were, and lightly picked them up to double read before placing them back down again. His silence and lack of a proper reaction scared the two adults more than any villain ever could.

“So? What do you think?” Pepper asked, voice wavering ever so slightly as she crossed her heart that they’d get the answer they were hoping for.

Peter looked down at Morgan again, at her baby grow, his mouth gaping open as he read it one last time. On the vest, in unmistakable writing, was the words: ‘Will you be my big brother?’

Even more than that, the letters that Tony had just placed in front of him were contracts which had been filled in but not yet signed to adopt him- Peter.

Peter struggled to get any sounds out for a good few minutes, in a state of shock and not fully believing what he was seeing. This must be a cruel trick.

Eventually, when Morgan made a whine of discomfort at the silence, he was kicked back into action, looking back up at the two adults who were anxiously waiting for an answer. “You… you w-want me… to be…” your son. Peter swallowed down the lump in his throat, “her br-brother?”

He blinked repeatedly to clear his vision, looking desperately between Pepper and Tony for answers. If they were just joking, making fun of him… If he’d misunderstood… If they started laughing at him for being so naive…

He didn’t know what he’d do.

Just as Pepper started nodding, Tony cut in with: “Or a live in babysitter, which ever title you’d prefer.” He drilled, in a voice that he hoped sounded like he didn’t really care all that much either way. That the kid saying no wouldn’t completely break him.

Pepper wacked Tony over the back of the head, but otherwise didn’t take her eyes off of the teen. “We want to adopt you, Peter. But first we wanted to know if that’s something you’d want to.”

Peter’s eyes quickly filled with tears, his bottom lip wobbling at the confirmation. Hardly anyone ever adopted teens, and out of those no one adopted teens like Peter Parker. That just wasn’t something that happened, he was too much work. And so, he couldn’t believe it. Why would they ever want to adopt him after what he’d done just five days ago? Was this them tricking him as a punishment?

But… why would they go through all of this effort just to prank him? Peter wasn’t a lawyer, but he could tell that these forms were legit, and they had been completely filled out except for the signatures. They couldn’t be doing this just to fuck with him, surely. Not to mention that Peter didn’t think they were that cruel.

“We want you, Peter.” Pepper said with tears, and Peter physically felt his heart lurch at the words. They… they wanted him? “You don’t have to decide anything right now, and it’s okay if you say no, or want to take things slow. We can start off with just us fostering you and see how things go from there, if that’s what you want. But we want you.”

Peter whimpered. He wanted it to be true, he so wanted it to be true. He wanted to be wanted more than anything else in the world. He wanted to be cared about, or even loved, but he was unloveable. How could anyone love him, when he couldn’t even stand himself? He continued to stay silent, they all did for a good two minutes.

“Okay,” Tony eventually clapped his hands, getting prepared to completely ditch and bury this conversation. It was clearly a no from the teen. “That’s fine if you don’t want to, just think about it, okay? You don’t have to do anything.” The kid didn’t want them, the kid didn’t want them, the kid didn’t want them. He was just too shy and polite to say no. They’d missed their shot, Peter rightfully hated them, they’d sent him away after all. They’d lost his trust, they’d abandoned him like all of the other shitty foster parents. And now they were going to lose him.

Tony reached to grab the documents, pulling them from the teen’s fingers in his own frustration. He’d fucked up, and now they were losing the kid. He wanted to get these now worthless files far, far away from his line of sight. Preferably bury them along with his hopes of getting a son, that had a nice dramatic irony to it.

“Wait!” Peter yelled in panic, reaching to grab Tony’s arm before he could leave him. Because he was losing his chance to be with the Starks! He was losing them! Suddenly the teen didn’t care if this was a trick or not, he just couldn’t let them go if he had even the slightest chance of being adopted by them, “I-I wan-wanna stay w-with you.”

Pepper gasped in a breath, and reached to hold his hand. That gave him the vote of confidence to continue. “I want- I want to be adop-adopted b-by you. I-if you wa-want me…” he added at the end, still unsure about whether this was a trick or not, and they were about to start laughing in his face. The word ‘adopted’ sounded entirely foreign to him on his own tongue, because he’d never ever expected anyone to ever in a million years pick him.

Pepper pulled him into a hug, repeatedly mumbling, “Oh we do. We do want you. We want you, Peter. We’re so lucky to have you.”

The smell of Pepper’s perfume, of fresh coffee on Tony. The feeling of her arms wrapped around him and Tony’s hand resting lightly on the top of his head. The sound of their shared tears and exclamations of joy, of even Morgan gurgling happily in between them. It all added to create a feeling that Peter would never, ever forget. The feeling of finally having a family again.

~~~~~

He only actually ended up staying in SI for another four days, before the Starks got him dismissed to go back to the lake house where he could continue to be watched by them and FRIDAY. Arriving at the cabin after over a week of being away had filled the boy with justifiable excitement. Excitement that he was finally back, excitement that this time he was actually staying with them, an excitement and relief that this confirmed that they hadn’t been lying and they actually were adopting him.

Going up to his room, Pepper had him close his eyes and gently guided him over. He’d been nervous, not liking surprises, but it had well been worth it when he finally got to open his eyes.

The once bland guest room had been completely transformed.

Its walls were painted a dark blue, shelves containing different well-thought-out ornaments, above a desk with boxes of legos and parts for a robot sat on top. A book case, with comic books and science textbooks and the like fillings it. A bean bag chair next to it, posters on the walls and a bed with Star Wars sheets but a soft Harry Potter blanket spread across. The main light was off, and a star projector lit up the ceiling, its bright constellations lighting up the teen’s wide and awed eyes.

All of the conversations, everything that the Starks had asked him over the last few days, had been for this. Him telling them his favourite colour was blue, and that he liked to build legos and robots and he read comic books and loved looking at space. That he used to have a star projector at his aunt and uncle’s house, and used to be unable to sleep without it.

They’d… they’d remembered everything, and they’d built him a whole room out of everything he loved. Peter’s heart physically hurt at how much love he felt, at finally being home.

Chapter Text

November 15^th, the wretched day had arrived. The day that Peter would have to see Carson again, the day that he’d have to testify against him, and the day that Carson would get his sentencing. Peter understood why the man needed to be punished. Really, he did, but that didn’t change the fact that Peter would much prefer just letting this all go and moving on with his life. He’d been so happy this last month, for the first time in years, and he didn’t want to dredge everything back up again. Even if that did mean that Carson would get away with everything, but really, the teen reasoned, would that even be that bad?

If what had happened was done to anyone else, Peter would agree that no, they didn’t deserve it. But Peter knew that his own circumstances were different because, one: everyone hurt him, he was always in the way and messed everything up, but no one else had ever gotten into trouble for hurting him before. And two: the circumstances it happened in didn’t really count as rape. Well, Peter was pretty sure they didn’t. The first time it had happened, Peter had said no and told the man to get off of him, but Carson had been high and drunk so he couldn’t be held accountable for that, could he? The second time, Peter had begged him to ‘stop it’ rather than saying no, so he obviously hadn’t been clear enough that he didn’t want to be with him. That was his own fault, everyone knew that the word you were supposed to say was no, but Peter, as usual, messed up. On top of that, at the time the teen only had his old clothes, which were too small and often had holes in them. Carson had said that he’d led him on dressing like that, and maybe Peter unintentionally had. So, did Carson deserve to go to prison because Peter had been stupid and misleading? No, he didn’t think so.

After he’d rambled about that yesterday in the middle of a mental breakdown, Tony and Pepper hadn’t stopped the worried looks they kept shooting him. They’d both told him that he didn’t deserve it and that it wasn’t his fault, but the reassurances had mostly gone over the panicked teen’s head. He hadn’t spoken since then, just staring, spaced out, stuck with his own thoughts in his head. They were now in the car on the way to court, Happy was driving (Peter had been introduced to him last week in preparation for this) and Tony and Pepper were sat opposite him, still looking at him with worry. Morgan was being babysat by Rhodey who’d flown in from Washington just for this, but Peter really wished that the little baby was with them. He felt safer when she was around.

The teen did his best to ignore the Starks’ obvious stares, gritting his teeth and bouncing his leg. He felt nauseous, both sweaty and shivery at the same time, and he was sure that if he looked in a mirror his complexion would be clammier than usual. The Starks weren’t trying to make conversation with him, which he was glad about because he really didn’t have it in him to even pretend to listen at the moment.

It was raining outside which was entirely fitting, the storm clouds a promise for bad fortune to be on its way. The teen tried his best to focus on the raindrops hitting the window, placing bets on which one would hit the bottom of the screen first, but he could barely keep his attention on it for more than a few moments. The same thoughts running through his head- he was going to see Carson, he was going to have to testify in front of a room full of people, in front of Carson, he was responsible for whether someone got sent to jail or not, that someone being Carson-

He felt bile rise up in his throat, something not at all helped when the car hit a speed bump. Pepper immediately tipped her handbag upside down, letting the contents of it fall to the floor, before holding it under the boy’s mouth. Peter swallowed repeatedly and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath through his nose because he did not want to throw up, especially not in Pepper’s mega expensive handbag.

Another speed bump, Peter gagged but blissfully nothing came out. He hadn’t managed to eat anything today, so that was probably why.

“Sorry,” Happy said from the steering wheel, slowing down for the next bump.

“It’s okay. Peter, close your eyes and take deep breaths.” Pepper instructed, keeping her bag under his mouth because he still looked deathly pale. She wanted to just take him home and wrap him up under blankets, forget about everything, but this needed to be done. The sooner they got this over with and that monster was behind bars, the sooner they could move on. Okay, maybe not entirely true, they still had to go to Sarah Carson’s trial in a few weeks but hopefully that one wouldn’t be as hard on the boy.

“Do you still feel sick? Should I get Happy to pull over?” Tony asked, practically itching in his seat to move and do something to help the teen, but not knowing what. For a genius, he was pretty clueless half of the time when it came to Peter. That’s why he’d been so relieved when he found out that Morgan was a girl, because he just couldn’t imagine having and raising a boy. He didn’t know how. He hoped he was doing right by Peter. That he wasn’t following in the footsteps Howard left for him, because he sure felt like a shitty person currently for making the kid go through this.

Peter kept his eyes closed and heaved in breaths for a few more moments, flinching away from Pepper when the woman tried to rub his back. Which hurt, because the teen had been incredibly clingy and cuddly since the first batch of adoption papers had been sent in for review, but it was understandable that he’d rather not be touched at the moment. Having calmed down a bit, Peter shook his head in answer to Tony’s questions and pushed the handbag away, leaning back into the seat with his eyes staying firmly closed.

They all stayed quiet for the next ten minutes of the drive, letting the teen relax for a little bit even if his facial expression showed him to be more distressed than relaxed, but it was better than nothing. He’d only managed to sleep for a few minutes last night before nightmares had taken over, so he could do with resting his eyes for a while.

Pepper put everything back in her bag, not bothering to organise it like she normally would, before checking her phone for any emails or messages from Collins again- Collins had been at the court house for two hours already, setting everything up, and had been giving her updates every half an hour. The teen was practically radiating stressed energy which was getting to her head, making her worry something bad was going to happen. Gods please, of all days, do not let anything go wrong today.

Peter only fluttered his eyes back open when the car stopped outside of the court house, his heart immediately dropping when he realised that they were there.

Pepper went to grab his hand but he yanked it back, blinking at her in panic. All she could think was how the hell was this poor boy going to make it through the rest of the day? She couldn’t even give him paracetamol to help with the nausea or tell him that everything was okay. It was most certainly not okay.

It took Peter only one look to see the many people dressed up in formal clothes, making their way into the tall building, for him to completely freak out. In a few hours you’ll be stood in front of all of them, and Carson, telling them all about how he hurt you. They’ll think you’re pathetic. You are pathetic.

“We’re going to see you inside, okay? Everything’s going to be alright.” Pepper said as Happy got out of the car, opening up an umbrella. They’d already gone over the plan at least twenty times today- Peter was going into the building with Happy, to avoid Tony bringing any unwanted attention to the teen, and they’d then follow after him five to ten minutes later, and reunite when they were safe in the building from the press.

Peter was visibly not too pleased by that plan when they’d told him, probably because he’d only met Happy a few times and the man had acted cold towards him on those occasions, despite both Pepper and Tony knowing that he did secretly care. They’d both told the man this morning to be nicer to the kid at least for today, which seemed to work because Happy had even gone to the length to smile at the boy when he’d gotten in the car, an expression which Tony had never seen the man do in the twenty plus years he’d known him, and he was sure to tease him about it later.

It was clear by the teen’s alarmed and tense look that he was seconds away from a meltdown, but he still got out of the car when Happy pulled the door open.

He was so brave, they both couldn’t help but think.

Happy made sure to keep the boy dry underneath the umbrella, and quickly walked them into the building, eyeing everyone to make sure that no one was watching the boy or acting suspicious. He got them in past security, and led them both to the front door of the court room they’d be in for the next few hours. He paused to text Tony that they were in, before looking back up at the sound of hyperventilating.

Peter’s eyes were darting around wildly, the realisation that he was currently in the same building as Carson, and would soon be in the same room as him getting to his head. Worse yet, Tony and Pepper weren’t with him, and he was now regretting pushing Pepper away in the car. He needed them, needed them, needed them-

Happy stared at the teen for a few seconds, not knowing what to do because he’d been told not to initiate contact with the boy unless he was in danger. He felt bad for being so cold towards the kid the first two times he’d met him, but he honestly hadn’t realised the effect his behaviour had had on the boy until Pepper pointed it out to him this morning. He hadn’t meant to, it was how he acted around everyone, but he should’ve known to be kinder to the boy after everything he’d been through, because now Peter wouldn’t even look in his direction. He seemed scared of him.

“Do you want some water? I’ll go get you a bottle, you’ll feel better.” He promised, hoping to extend an olive branch. He went over to get some water from the vending machine- keeping the teen in his sight because he’d most definitely be murdered by two very protective parents if he left him alone or lost him- before quickly coming back with a bottle of water. “Here, take this, have a few sips.” Happy passed the teen the bottle, and Peter took it with a shy but grateful smile, looking up at the man with wide (slightly mistrustful) eyes. Happy would be lying if he said that it didn’t warm his heart. This boy was Pepper and Tony’s son now, which made him Happy's family too, and he’d therefor protect him with his life.

Peter gulped down the water, instantly looking better and a lot less pale. Some people suddenly barged past them to go into the court room, and Happy quickly placed himself in front of the teen who’d stumbled back at the sudden influx of people.

Once they’d all gone in, he turned back around to the once again very panicked teen. “Let’s go sit down, Pepper and Tony will be here soon.” he suggested, holding open the large oak doors for the boy to enter.

Peter really wanted Pepper and Tony to be with him right now, because he didn’t feel safe with anyone else, so as he walked into the room full of people who all turned to stare at him, he silently prayed that they’d get there fast. Happy walked the teen to the front, glaring at everyone to move out of their way as they walked down.

Peter was tempted to grab on to the man’s jacket and hide behind him, as he could physically feel everyone’s pity being directed towards him from all corners of the room. As they looked at the pathetic boy who’d allowed himself to be hurt and who they’d now have to listen to give a sob story for the next few hours.

Too many people, too many people, too many people.

Peter wanted to leave. he wanted to go home with Pepper and Tony and forget about everyone and everything else. But he couldn’t. The boy scanned the room, fearfully searching for the monster who still haunted his dreams, but he didn’t allow himself to relax when his search came up empty. Carson wasn’t in the room yet, but he would be soon.

Happy wasn’t allowed in past the public area with Peter, but Tony, Pepper and Collins were and the latter was luckily already there.

“Parker,” Collins called, standing up from where he was sat at a long table on the left to greet the teen.

Happy put his arm in front of the boy protectively, not knowing who this man was, but he relaxed a little when Peter gave the man a small wave and a smile. Peter knew Collins better than he did Happy, and he was helping Tony and Pepper become his family. So he felt a little more comfortable with him.

“Ben Collins,” Collins introduced, extending his hand out to Happy, “I’m Peter’s social worker.”

Tony had told him about Collins, and that he could be trusted, so he shook his hand in return. "Hogan." He introduced shortly, before turning back to look at Peter. “Are you okay going to sit down with him? I’ll stay here until Tony and Pepper come.”

Peter didn’t want to be around all of these people anymore, so the closed off area Collins had been sat in looked all too appealing, even if he did want to stay stood up so that his paren-- so his Tony and Pepper could find him easier.

He nodded, letting Collins open the gate that cut off the back part of the room to the front and led him over to sit down at the table.

Peter was sat on a long bench, about a seat down from Collins and the lawyer Tony had hired for him, so he had an empty seat on either side of him for Tony and Pepper to sit at, which he was grateful for.

There was an officer stood by their table and another stood by this stand with glass walls around it, where Peter knew Carson was going to go because Pepper had explained the layout of a court room and where everyone was going to be sat to him yesterday, telling him that there was ‘nothing to worry about’. Even with the police officer and glass wall between them, it was still much too close for his liking.

Happy checked his phone and was about to message Tony if there were any problems coming in because they were taking quite a while, when the court doors suddenly slammed open and he didn’t need to look to know who it was.

“Peter!” Tony called, striding into the room, both him and Pepper immediately scanning the room for their kid.

Peter quickly stood up, lifting his arms in a sign that he wanted a hug with desperation in his eyes. He probably looked like a toddler, but he didn’t currently care. Tony barged past everyone and pushed open the gate, opening his arms to receive the hug. Clingy Peter was clearly back, as he practically hung off of Tony’s neck until they sat down, and then proceeded to curl up in between both him and Pepper on the bench.

In Tony’s loyal opinion, clingy Peter was the best because it reassured him that maybe he was actually doing an alright job with the kid.

The teen clung onto Tony’s suit shirt so that he couldn’t leave, and linked arms with Pepper to pull her closer to him. The silent mantra of you’re safe with them, they’ll protect you playing over in his head. He let himself be cradled and soothed, enjoying the feeling of being in between both adults who were adopting him and giving him a home.

“If I’d known I was getting Peter cuddles today, I would have brought the couch.” Tony teased, and Peter grinned and rested his chin on the man’s chest so that he could blink up at him. Studying the man’s face like he so often did when he was trying to reassure himself that this was real.

It was at that moment, Peter realised with a startling sincerity, that he was beginning to love both of them. And not love in an adoring of the hero who saved you kind of way, but actual love. Which didn’t make any sense and was scary because he’d only been living with them for a little over a month, one week of which he was in a hospital under a coma. But he did, not that he was ever going to admit to it. He loved them.

Peter snuggled up between them further, closing his eyes and trying to forget where he was.

Safe, safe, safe. You’re safe.  

Of course, the universe had to ruin the moment. Because what a preposterous idea it was to leave him alone for more than a few minutes. Peter opened his eyes again when he heard the heavy click of the door on the other side of the room open, and when he saw who it was all sense of the word ‘safe’ went out of the window.

Not safe, not safe, very not safe. Run. Hide.

Tony felt the boy’s entire body tense up next to him, when the monster who haunted the child’s every waking thoughts was escorted into the room by two officers.

Michael Carson was around 6’1 in height, and had a thin angular face with an athletic yet slim build. His buzzed hair had been bleached to an almost white, really just emphasising the physical symptoms that Tony knew came from drug withdrawals. His pale green eyes were blood shot and glazed, his skin sickish and chilled looking, and his pierced lips chapped. And, really, withdrawals were the bare minimum of what he deserved to go through after what he did to Peter.

Carson had his hands cuffed behind him, as the two officers led him over to the box he would be sat in. Before he got there though, he looked over to the entirely shell-shocked Peter and gave an amused, almost psychotic, smirk.

Peter gasped and completely turned to hide himself in Tony, as though trying to hide the fact that he’d dared look in his abuser's direction, just to again peak over Tony to look because he couldn’t bare not keeping his monster in sight at all times.

Tony tightened both of his arms around the teen, practically cradling him on his lap at this point. Peter was shaking violently, like a leaf in a very bad storm, about ready to rip off at the stem. He’d seen the vile smirk the bastard had shot the teen, and the amusement in his eyes when Peter had hidden away, and he was suddenly hit with a very vivid and extremely appealing vision of chopping off the fucker’s dick with a pair of rusty scissors.

Pepper wrapped her arms around the boy from behind, so that he was completely and safely wrapped up between them. She rest her chin on his shoulder to whisper comforts softly in his ear. “It’s okay, baby. No one’s going to hurt you, we won’t let anyone hurt you. It’ll all be over soon.” She couldn’t bare the thought of that man touching and hurting the sweet child next to her, she didn’t even want him looking at Peter. She tried to shield the boy’s head with her hand so that he couldn’t see the monster who’d hurt him either, but he seemed determined to keep his eyes on Carson, scared that he’d do something while he wasn’t looking.

Peter’s breaths came out in sharp puffs against Tony’s neck, and the man deepened his own breaths for Peter to copy. “Follow my breathing.” He instructed, and Peter tilted his head up just a little to glance at him and attempt to copy.

His breathing was still shallow a few minutes later, but it had calmed down enough for him to not be at risk of passing out. He wasn’t given a break though, when the Judge’s hammer was banged down onto the table to capture everyone’s attention, making the boy practically jump out of his skin.

“November fifteenth twenty-eighteen, 11:30am, court in session. The defendant, Mr Carson, accused of the maltreatment of Mr Parker. Mr Carson, how do you plead?”

Peter had been watching the lady in front of him typing out every word said with a rapid speed, he didn’t know why that was what drew his attention to the fact that he was in a court room like he’d seen on TV, but it was. He looked back over to Carson at the question though, with fearfully anticipating eyes.

At the man’s smirk as he was allowed to stand up, Peter already knew what his answer would be before it even left his mouth.

“Not guilty.”

Peter closed his eyes at the reply he knew had been coming, the words playing straight into his insecurity that everything that had happened was his own fault not Carson’s. No one’s going to believe you, they’ll all think you deserved it too by the end of this. Opening his eyes again, he could see that Tony looked pissed off, and it scared him despite knowing that it probably wasn’t aimed at him. At least not yet.

“Defendant pleads not guilty, Mr Murdock if you’d like to begin you’re opening statement.”

Matt Murdock, while being a blind man, seemed to be able to see into everyone in the room. He was one hell of a lawyer, which Tony knew from experience because he’d once won over SI’s former private lawyers and had cost the company a few million. Personal vendetta aside though, Tony couldn’t think of anyone better to speak for Peter, so he’d hired him on the spot.

Murdock stood up to give his opening statement, instantly capturing the attention of everyone in the room. All except Peter, who still just couldn’t take his glazed eyes off of his monster.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the court. I am Matthew Murdock and I will be representing Peter Parker as his lawyer in this very important case.” He began, and Peter’s name and the feeling of Tony tightening his arms around him managed to capture a bit of the boy’s attention. "On March second, twenty-eighteen, my client was placed in the care of Michael and Sarah Carson, where, over the next seven months, he faced a series of both physical and sexual assaults. His former social worker, Samuel Chase, has already been sentenced for negligence of his case, as it wasn’t until October the eleventh after the Carsons broke Mr Parker’s scapula, that a neighbour heard and called the police for him to be removed.”

Murdock paused to let that sink in, the new silence enough to allow Tony to hear a scoff coming from Carson’s direction. And if the flinch from Peter and the way he shrank even more into Tony’s side was anything to go by, he must have heard it too. It took everything in Tony that he had not to go over and knock the living daylights out of the vile bastard, but instead continue to hold Peter. Carson will get what's coming to him soon enough, you attacking him will only get you taken out of the room and will scare Peter. 

“My client is only fourteen years old, and is believed to have been thirteen when the sexual assaults started. Mr Carson has already been charged for the sexual abuse of a minor, but today we’re looking to extend that sentencing for the accused crimes of child abuse, child neglect, drugging a minor with date-rape along with other substances, and the sexual trafficking of a minor.”

The list echoed in Peter’s head, hearing it out loud from another person’s mouth making it seem so much more… real. Like he hadn’t just been faking it.

“Speaking for my client today, will be Mr Lee, Miss McCall, Officer Lacey, and Mr Collins. We will then hear from Mr Parker himself. After that, Mr Carson is required to give his version of the events. Any questions?”

There were none, and with that the witnesses began to be called up for questioning, one by one.

“Mr Lee is the Carson’s neighbour and was the one who called the police on October eleventh. Can Mr Stan Lee please go to the stand.”

An older fellow stood up, pushing past the row of people next to him to get past. He nodded towards Peter as he passed, and the teen watched after him with awing eyes. He owed everything to that man; if it weren't for him, he’d still be living with the Carsons... or dead with the way that horrible night had been going. If Peter were to pick, he would have chosen death. He couldn’t even begin to imagine still living there, never meeting the Starks...

Mr Lee swore on an oath and stood to the stand, and so the questioning began.

“Mr Lee, in your own word please describe what led to you calling the police on October the eleventh.”

“There was a loud bang, like a gun went off, followed by screaming and yelling. It sounded like someone was being murdered in there.”

The screaming had obviously been Peter. But the boy hadn't been shot so the loud bang must have been something else. Unless Carson had been firing trick shots at the teen just to scare him, which was horrible to think about and had Pepper tightening her grip around him because she knew that guns terrified him after what had happened to his aunt and uncle. The fact that all of this had happened to the boy just hours before they first met him, while she and Tony were safe and sound and entirely oblivious to the teen’s entire existence, was both heart breaking and startling.

Questions continued in quick succession, and soon the public defender Carson had legally been provided with stood to speak.

“Mr Lee, if my client was abusing Mr Parker, why didn’t you, or any of your other neighbours for that matter, call for him to be removed sooner? Surely someone would have noticed something off if he was being ‘abused’ for seven months.” the public defender, Miss Low, asked in a belittling tone.

“I rarely saw him, and if I did, he always had a hood pulled up over his head so there was no way of seeing any marks on the kid.”

“But surely someone would have heard something? Seven months of him being ‘abused’ and there were only two noise complaints for loud music given to my client during that time.”

Tony knew she was only doing her job and was legally required to provide her best services for her client, but if she used air quotes around the word abused one more time-

Before Lee could respond, Murdock cut in. "Miss Low, surely you're not asking why a boy diagnosed with selective mutism, as a result of the trauma inflicted on him, didn’t make a noise loud enough to cause concern until he was pushed too far?” Murdock asked with a cold but amused tone, before turning to face the jury and address them. "After they violently broke his scapula. Miss Low, do you have any idea how much force and willpower is required to break the shoulder blade?”

The woman pursed her lip but otherwise didn’t respond to the clearly rhetorical question.

“Well, you’ll soon find out, as I’d now like to call Nurse Melissa McCall to the stand.”

Peter watched with wide eyes as the woman he recognised from the hospital walked down. She'd been nice to him, from what he could remember, but he hadn't really cared at the time as he’d still been in shock and terrified after everything that had happened. If he remembered correctly, he’d thrown up on her actually. Brilliant.

“Miss McCall, you were the first in line to treat Mr Parker upon his arrival on the eleventh, correct?”

“Yes… I mean, umm, correct.”

“In your own words, please describe the injuries and how you believe them to have been made.”

One by one the nurse began to list off each of Peter’s injuries in front of an entire room full of people, including the person responsible for them. You'd think that that would have been the worst part, but it really, really wasn’t. No, the worst part was the photos she displayed on the screen behind her.

Peter remembered having them taken, the police officers coming in with a photographer, and making him sit shirtless while they took close ups of each hand shaped bruise and burnt skin for this exact moment. He remembered being exhausted and in pain, and feeling exposed once again, and not even knowing where he’d be staying that night. If only he could tell his past self that he’d be staying with the couple who would finally make him feel safe and loved again.

He grimaced when a picture of hand prints bruised onto both sides of his waist was shown. Peter hated his body, and he preferred not to look at it and the marks that still stained his skin as a horrible reminder of everyone who’d hurt him. So he most certainly didn’t want anyone else to see his body. Never, ever again. But there it was, on a large screen for everyone, and worst of all Carson, to see.

Carson had a hint of a smile on his face as he looked at what he’d done, and Peter’s stomach lurched when the man turned to look at him and pouted his lips in a kissing motion. 

Peter wrapped his arms around himself like that would hide him from everyone, and trembled, the dirty feeling he’d only just managed to get rid of instantly returning with a vengeance.

The sudden horrible thought that the Starks might not want him after everything they’ll see and hear today struck him, and made him tense up once again. He built up the courage to glance up at both Starks to see if they looked disgusted. It was easy to see the way both of their jaws were clenched tight, and it made the teen wince and quickly lower his eyes again.

If... if he lost them today over this... he didn’t know what he’d do. How could he keep living if he lost them?

“-rohypnol was found in his bloodstream, which is a common date rape drug, so it’s likely that Mr Carson drugged him. Furthermore, two other DNAs were found in the sexual assault forensic exam so it's possible that Mr Carson sold out time with the boy-” the nurse’s (accurate) assumptions were cut off by a yell which had Peter’s heart hammering even faster than the discussion about him being whored out did.

“That’s fucking bullshit!” Carson yelled in anger, standing up and directing a heated glare at Peter. “I don't know what fucking lies he’s been spewing, but I'd like to go to the stand and tell you the truth now.”

Peter looked in desperation to the front of the room because no no no no it wasn’t his turn. He couldn’t go up yet.

“Officer Lacey is ne-” Murdock began to say, but was cut off by Miss Low.

“Your honour, permission for the defendant to take the stand?”

“Permission granted.”

No!  

He’s going to ruin everything for you, he’s going to ruin it. He was going to say something horrible and then everyone would believe it and hate him. He was going to lose them.  

Peter clung tighter to both Pepper and Tony, sobbing into the man’s neck as he worried they’d throw him away after this. Peter half wanted to run, but he couldn’t stand the thought of leaving them here to listen to whatever Carson said about him.

Carson was escorted up with a shit eating grin on his face, his eyes staying pinned on the teenager he was about to shit talk into the dirt.

Tony started patting Peter’s back when he started sobbing harder, an action which he was most grateful for because it gave him a little reassurance that they didn’t hate him. Yet.

“Okay, first off I didn’t fucking abuse him. Do you want to know why the little shit left beat up like that? Because he kept going after my wife and I lost it. Look at his fucking file! Other people have had to kick him out for picking fights with them. And another thing, you think I raped him? Yeah, I know he’s underage so he can’t legally consent, but when I tell you that he fucking wanted it believe me-”

“-sir, you need to calm down-”

Carson pointed an accusing finger at Peter and snarled. “The fucking slut would climb all over me and beg me for it, and I’d bet the other two people were schoolmates he’d convinced to fuck him in the school toilets or something. He's fucking manipulative, and he’s just acting all sweet and innocent now so he doesn’t get into trouble-”

The two officers were told to escort Carson from the stand due to ‘inappropriateness’, but the damage had already been done. Something the man clearly knew because he didn’t fight as he was led off.

“I didn’t, I didn’t Mr Stark. I promise.” Peter begged in gasping breaths, the first thing he’d said since his breakdown yesterday. Because he couldn’t lose them, he couldn’t. Why did Mr Carson hate him so much? Why was he still trying to hurt him and take everything away from him? He’d never done anything to him, he’d always tried to be good, so why did he still want to hurt him? He was going to lose Pepper and Tony, he was going to lose them. Everyone in the room must hate him now, they all thought he was dirty and bad.

‘He fucking wanted it’. Carson and the others used to tell him that all of the time, used to tell him that he wanted it. And the worst part of all was that sometimes, when they weren’t being too rough with him and the pleasure was allowed to over-ride the pain, his body actually reacted to the men’s touches. He hated himself especially when that happened, because if he didn’t want it, then why had his body reacted that way?

Peter had never wished anyone harm before, but the idea that Carson was trying to take away his new family from him made him sincerely wish bad things for the man.

At the lack of response, Peter shifted his hand to clutch the man’s shirt collar, and pulled ever so slightly to try get his attention. “I pro-omise, I’m sorry.”

Tony ran a hand through the boy’s hair but didn’t otherwise respond, he was too busy watching Carson be handcuffed to the desk he was sat in front of. Peter twisted to look at Pepper who also hadn’t said anything, and grabbed onto her hand. “Please.”

“Shhh,” Pepper hushed in a meant to be comforting tone, but the tone didn’t register with him. The fact that they both looked angry did however, and he couldn’t distinguish in his stressed head that they weren’t angry at him, but at Carson.

He didn’t understand that they weren’t talking to him because they weren’t supposed to speak unless called on, and that they didn’t want to risk being removed from the room and leave Peter on his own. They’d had to fight to be sat with him in the first place, they didn’t want to risk it.

Peter just took their silence as conformation that they hated him.

He suddenly didn’t feel as safe wrapped in their arms as he previously had, and he wanted out. But at the same time, he was far too scared to move, and was worried that if he let go of them he’d never get the chance to hug them again.

Peter continued to sob but nothing came out discernible as words, and he eventually quietened down when people began to talk again, just staring into a space hopelessly and waiting for them to tell him that they didn’t want him anymore. Waiting for his whole new life and last chance at being happy to collapse around him.

Chapter Text

Officer Lacey was brought up next, the man who’d found Peter at the Carson’s and taken him to the hospital that fateful night. Everyone had a lot of questions after what Carson had said, and the officer was quick to try and answer them all.

“We have proof that Mr Carson has been buying illegal drugs under the alias name ‘Skip Westcott’, so it is likely and entirely plausible that he was the one who gave Mr Parker Rohypnol and Modafinil. Given the nature of these drugs, this would also point to the conclusion that Mr Parker was not at all a willing participant in any sexual acts they engaged in.”

Peter let out a small breath of relief at hearing someone else confirming that he hadn't wanted it, and looked to both Tony and Pepper to see if they believed it or not, but he couldn’t quite tell. They were the last people on earth he’d want to think about him in that way. He'd much rather them think him pathetic and weak for letting himself be raped, than see him as a dirty little slut who threw himself at everybody. His chest ached painfully at the thought that either way they’d probably never look at him the same again after this.

“And is there any proof that the defendant sexually trafficked Mr Parker?” Low asked, looking quite pleased with herself, so she must have already known the answer. 

Officer Lacey bit his tongue, clearly trying to keep any personal opinions out of it and stick to the professional truth. “No. No, we do not currently have any evidence of that.” 

Mumblings broke out around the room, and Peter once again found himself feeling entirely mortified and humiliated. 

More so at the knowledge that after Collins- who was now going up to the stand- he had to go up there himself. Up there, in front of all those people who were judging him and had heard- and to some extent seen- what had been done to him. That thought plaguing his mind, Peter didn't hear the question Collins was asked over the ringing of panic in his ears, but he did hear his response.

“Yes, one of the earlier homes Peter stayed in did ask to have him removed under the accusation that he showed violent behaviour towards their biological son. However, I'd like to point out that that file was entirely one side and did not tell Peter’s side of the story at all. Knowing the boy myself, he is not at all of a violent nature, and I am sure that it was self-defence or something of the like.”

Fucking thank you, Tony mentally applauded with exasperation, glad that Collins had pointed that out. He and Pepper had been given Peter’s file to read two weeks ago, and the thing that had been the most striking (and sadly unsurprising) was how incredibly one sided it was. No one had ever asked for Peter’s side of the story, not even before he’d gone selectively mute, when he could still so easily talk if only there was someone there who cared enough to actually listen. 

Tony knew Carson was talking about the Ransom couple, who had asked to have Peter removed from them because apparently he was ‘insolent and violent’ and had ‘attacked’ their son. No one had pointed out the fact that Peter had been a physically harmless eleven-year-old at the time, and the Ransoms’ son a much stronger seventeen-year-old. Nor had anyone questioned the young boy's entire face being beaten in when he was picked up, and asked whether he’d been abused at that home. Not to mention to mention the fact that Peter wouldn’t hurt a fly because he’s a good kid, it was so clearly self-defence. Tony honestly wished he could go back in time three years and take the kid in then, spare him all of that hurt, but unfortunately that was physically impossible and three years ago he was in no place to have a child anywhere near his general vicinity. What with Ultron, closely followed by the ‘Civil War’ and then Thanos just to cap the shit show off. Adopting an eleven year old would have been entirely out of the cards.

Too many people had gotten away with hurting his kid in the past though, and Tony would make sure to get a full list of names of everyone and have them suitably punished soon enough.

“And even if Mr Parker did attempt to hit Mrs Carson, I hardly see how that’s a justifiable excuse to beat the boy, and certainly not to the extent he was. I mean, look at him, a breeze could knock him over, for goodness sakes, he’s no threat.”

Harsh but true, Peter winced. He was tired of this, he just wanted to leave and see if he still had a home to go back to. Better yet, he wanted to crawl into a dark hole, or perhaps burrow himself under his bed sheets, and never go outside again.

He didn’t get that though. No, instead he got a raw hot panic as Murdock called his name to go up to the stand. The words drilling through his rapidly darkening thoughts and forcefully throwing him into the spotlight.

“No.” He mumbled in a desperate plea, as Pepper and Tony sat him up right from where he’d been reclining against both of their chests. He looked at them both in betrayal, not understanding why they were making him do this. Why did he have to do this? They must hate him. “No, please.”

They never usually made him do anything he didn’t want to, especially not if he verbally objected- which he didn’t often do because he was usually too nervous to object to anything. So he was confused when Pepper stood up and held out her hand to help him to his feet.

“Do-don’t m-make me, no.” Peter wasn’t very loud, but in the silence of the rest of the room he realised that everyone could easily hear him, so he immediately snapped his mouth shut and whimpered softly instead. He wasn’t supposed to talk, Carson was right there. He was supposed to be seen and not heard.

“It’s gonna be okay, sweetie.” Pepper promised as she pulled him up to his feet by his hand. She hated that she had to send him up there, when he so clearly didn’t want to. She felt utterly horrible as he wrapped an arm around her neck and desperately tried to cling on to her, but she had to pull away. The person whose job it was to escort each person up to the stand was stood there, and went to grab the boy’s arm, but luckily stopped before she could make contact with the unsuspecting teen thanks to the glares shot her way from both parents. 

Pepper put both of her hands against his cheeks, leaning down so she was at his eye-level. “You’re going to go up there, and you’re going to be just fine. We’ll stay right here waiting for you, and when you’re done it’ll all be over, and we can go get some lunch, okay? Please be brave for us, you’re already doing so well.” She pressed a kiss to his forehead.

The words must have clicked something in Peter, some will to be strong if only for her, because he let his arms slump to his sides and hummed weakly in a begrudged agreement, still sniffling but otherwise letting himself be pulled away. The boy rubbed tiredly at his reddened eyes and forced on a thin watery smile, trying his very best to be brave.

Really, Tony and Pepper didn’t think that it was possible to be any prouder of the boy, but they were proved wrong, once again. Tony didn’t think he could be as proud of someone as he was of Peter when he allowed himself to be led up to the front, doing his very best to keep his tears at bay and keep his chin up.

Stood up there, all those peoples’ eyes on him, the boy looked even smaller than usual. Absolutely tiny. He’d been given a piece of paper to write his responses on, which had a camera connected to the screen at the front for everyone to see.

“Mr Parker, please sign the bottom of the page to prove that it is you writing and to agree to an oath that you will tell nothing but the truth.”

Peter panicked even more then, for the odd reason that he didn’t have a signature.

He’d never needed one before.

He clumsily picked up the pen and stared down at the paper, as though expecting it to attack him at any given moment. He was swaying slightly on the spot, going lightheaded as he felt everyone’s eyes on him. No one was talking, so he could easily hear every movement people made, and then someone clearing their throat as though trying to tell him to hurry up. Peter ended up writing his name in slightly curlier than usual handwriting, scrunching his nose in distaste when he was finished, and wishing that he’d come up with a cooler signature. Would he have to use this one for the rest of his life now? Did he have to, like, register it or something? Peter shook his head to clear the thoughts, because that really wasn’t what he should be stressing over right now.

“In your own words, please describe your time living with the Carsons.”

Peter barely processed the question, staring at the man speaking but not really seeing him, if that made sense. His vision was blacking out at the sides, the world spinning. All he could see was Carson, watching him in a cruel amusement, because he knew he’d beaten it in to Peter to never ever snitch, and that he still wouldn’t dare do it even now that he was away from him. He’d never be away from him. Make it stop.

Peter wished he could prove his monster wrong, but he wasn’t strong enough to do that. You’re weak. You let yourself be hurt, and everyone here knows it. Instead, his hand shook so violently that he could barely hold it up, and when he moved to put pen to paper the pen slipped from his sweaty grip and fell to the floor, the sound of it clattering booming in his ears. Peter stared down at it in shock, cheeks burning red in raw humiliation as he again heard mumblings from the people watching him. He leaned down to pick it back up again, but was unable to get a proper grip. He squeezed his eyes tightly closed, trying not to break down on the floor in front of everyone. He clutched at his knees from where he was bent over and took in some strained heaving breaths, not feeling like he was getting any sort of air in at all. The quiet mumblings he could hear sounded incredibly loud and mocking in his head. They all think you’re pathetic, shivering on the floor and unable to even hold a pen properly. Standing back up, he saw the smirk on Carson’s face and completely froze up, going practically catatonic.

Vision fading. Head screaming at him to run, run, run.

Peter knew he either had to run or he was going to pass out. And since he didn’t feel nearly safe enough to be unconscious in front of all these people, that really only left him with the one option. Peter ran quickly down from the stand, moving quicker at the alarmed yells of people standing up, and practically supersonic when he realised how close he was to Carson. More so, when people tried to grab him in the public seating area as he ran through them for the doors. Surprisingly enough to the teen, Happy actually helped him get out by blocking people from grabbing him and pulling open the doors for him. And somewhere in the back of the teen's panicked head he made a mental note to thank him later, if he got the chance.

Tony was quick to bolt after the boy, having seen the familiar gleam in the boy’s eyes that he got whenever he was about to run and hide, Happy shoving everyone out of the way and holding the door open for him too. The teen sure was quick when he wanted to be, as he was nowhere in sight when the man skidded into the corridor seconds after him. “Peter!” He called as he tried to decide on whether to go left or right, mentally chastising himself for yelling, as if that would help the kid’s current state. Straining his ears, he could just about make out quick footsteps coming from the right and took a turn that way.

He passed a restroom but knew Peter wouldn’t be in there. They’d discovered the teen’s aversion to public toilets two weeks ago when they’d had to race the boy home from a restaurant. So no, he wasn’t going to bother looking in there.

He could better hear hyperventilating now, and the turn of one more corner took him to the source. It was a dead end of a corridor, with a bench and a vending machine squeezed in it to take up the space. And there, curled up on the floor and squishing himself in between the two items in a poor attempt at being hidden, was Peter. The teen had ripped off his tie, leaving the first few buttons of his collared shirt undone, and had half managed to escape his new suit jacket. The fitted fabric must have felt way too constricting over the boy’s heaving chest, Tony knew, he’d been there.

“Kid,” Tony breathed in relief, stepping over to him just to freeze at the terrified scream that ripped from the boy’s throat. The man could see how unfocused the kid’s eyes were, and the pure terror in them as they flickered around the small space, clearly seeing things that weren't there… anymore. Tony knew that he must be having a flashback, and a pretty severe panic attack as a result of it too.

The man sank to his knees, gingerly scooting closer to the boy. “Hey, little prince,” that was Peter’s most recent nickname, after the teen had blurted out that when he was a kid he used to think Tony and Pepper were royalty. Despite how bashful and embarrassed the teen got whenever they called him ‘little prince’, they could both tell that he loved it, probably because it reaffirmed that he was becoming their son. As expected, the now familiar nickname managed to ground the boy a little bit to reality, or at least got him to look at Tony, and not whatever he was seeing in his head. “Whatcha doin’?”

Tony hadn’t been expecting any actual words of response from the boy, as Peter usually didn’t speak when he was stressed out. He wasn’t going to complain though when he did receive a verbal response from the teen… Even if that did mean that he was probably way too disconnected to even be concerned about getting hurt for making noise.

“Hidin’. Monsters.” He garbled in explanation, sounding so very young and innocent that it made the man’s chest lurch. Peter’s eyes flickered back to a spot just next to Tony where he must be seeing something pretty terrifying as he whimpered in fear and buried his face into his knees. “Monsters.” He repeated in a quiet gasp.

“Hey, hey. Just me and you here, no… monsters. Me being Tony- or, Mr Stark as you're so adamant on calling me even though it makes me feel old. Can you see that? Take a look around, what are five things you can see.” With the amount of panic attacks Peter had, Tony had gotten pretty good at knowing what best worked to help him, and he knew that the 54321 technique had a high success rate with the kid.

Peter blinked to clear his vision, the voice talking to him gently lulling him back into the present time. Out of his own curiosity, Peter did look around the room at his surroundings, not at all remembering or recognising where he was, which made him a little confused and nervous. But he recognised Mr Stark there, and the genius’ presence had him subconsciously figuring that he must be somewhere safe, even if it wasn’t home.

“I-i s-see y-you, an-and the wall, and m-my ha-hands ‘nd legs, and the-the fl-floor.” Peter looked at each thing as he named them, counting down five with shaky fingers, before settling his eyes back onto Tony like he did every time to make sure that he’d done it right.

Tony scooted a little closer now that the teen was more coherent. “Good job, kid. Now, what four things can you feel?”

Peter knew the order this went in, having done it enough times by now, and had already started coming up with answers to say. “The tile, it-it’s col-cold, and m-my clo-othes. And, umm…” Peter looked at Tony, before reaching over to him. “Your ha-hand,” he continued, as he gently took the man’s hand into his, Tony squeezing it reassuringly for him to carry on. “An-and your heart b-beat.” Peter lightly placed his other hand on Tony’s chest, not knowing the effect his words had on the man, nor how they very nearly had him crying alongside with him.

Tony almost made a self-depreciating joke about how he didn’t have a heart, but thought better of it because he knew that Peter was too sweet and would genuinely get upset at him saying such things about himself. Tony instead took Peter’s hand pressed against his chest and held it with the other one, both of the teen’s delicate hands in between his much bigger and work-calloused ones. He swallowed the growing lump in his throat before continuing. “Three things you can hear?”

Peter’s eyes fluttered shut to listen, briefly flickering open just to double check that it was actually safe to have them closed before allowing them to shut once more when it finally registered that he was safe, and it really was just them there. No monsters. A thought made even better when he strained his hearing and couldn’t hear anyone else. “My-my hearts r-really loud. It’s ba-banging in my h-head.” He admitted in an exasperated gasp, sending another stab of pain through Tony’s chest as though it were simply a hobby. The kid was pretty damn talented at saying upsetting things in an inconspicuous manner, the boy still not fully understanding that he and Pepper actually cared about him, and so when he was hurt or upset, they hurt too. “Also, umm, us br-breathing, and…” Peter focused hard on what he could add for a third thing, so Tony helped him out by making his leather shoe squeak against the tiled floor. “Squeak.” The boy finished simply, once again blinking up at him for a sign that he’d done okay, making the man grin at how endearing he was.

“Almost finished, you’re doing so well. Now, what two things can you smell?” 

Peter took a comically deep breath through his nose, unknowingly also being tricked into finally breathing properly again, which had Tony smirking a little like he always did when they got to this part of the technique.

“Coffee? An-and cologne.” 

“Yeah, sorry bud. Those are both me.” He joked, as though that particular bottle of cologne hadn’t cost more than what some people paid for a car. “One thing you can taste?” 

“Blood.”

Tony hadn’t been expecting that answer, and neither had Peter apparently as his eyebrows crinkled in confusion as soon as the words left, and then he brought a hand up to his mouth to check what was wrong.

“What?” Tony leaned over and hooked a finger under the boy’s chin to take a worried look over him, but Peter shrugged him off.

“Th-think I bit my tongue a little, ‘s fine.” He mumbled, dropping his head again as his thoughts went back to how he’d gotten there. “‘M sorry. I shouldn’t’ve r-ran.” He practically squeaked in a quiet voice, in fear that the man would snap at him any minute. Or leave him, please don’t leave.

“That’s alright. You tried your best, we can’t ask for anything more than that.”

Peter stared at him for a while, the clogs in his head clearly turning like they always did when he was trying to decide on whether something- someone- was safe, until finally, he scooted out of his hiding place and crawled the short distance over to be next to Tony. The man wanted to pull him closer to his side, but let the boy decide if he wanted contact first, since he was still visibly shook up and something like uninitiated contact could easily have him crumbling again. Contact came in the form of Peter gingerly reaching over to hold his hand.

“Do-do I h-have to go back there?” He asked with a small glint of hope in his eyes, bottom lip wobbling. Tony wished he could say no, wished he could take him home right now so that he’d never have to see that monster again, but if they wanted Carson to be held responsible to the full extent of his crimes, they needed something, anything, from Peter. And so far, the teen hadn’t said a word about what had actually happened there, far too scared to talk about it, like he expected Carson to jump out and hurt him for telling.

“Yeah. Yeah, bud we do.” He said with an apologetic smile, Peter looked down at his lap sorrowfully. Tony dug through his mind for some way to make him happy again, or at least make him feel a little better about the situation. “But hey, I’ve got on idea. Why don’t you put these on?” Tony took off the sunglasses he’d had on his face and showed them to Peter, who now looked confused. “Can I?” He asked, holding them up in question of whether he could put them on the teen’s face for him. Peter nodded in permission and let the man slide them on, using his finger to push them up the bridge of his small nose, making the boy smile a little before blinking owlishly up at him with his now blue filtered vision.

Tony whistled at the new look, which made the teen blush bashfully and shyly tuck a stray curl behind his ear. “Looking good, mini me. And now, when we go back in there, nobody will be able to see what you’re thinking or how you’re feeling. Think of it as like a barrier between you and them.”

Peter tilted his head. He liked the sound of that, and he did already feel strangely better. He wondered if that was why Tony wore them so often. He couldn't imagine the man, a literal superhero, ever feeling nervous or insecure. It made him want to hug the billionaire and tell him that everything was okay, but he didn’t currently have the willpower to do that when he himself was most definitely not okay.

Still, being called a ‘mini me’ warmed his heart, and brought a big smile to his face. He didn’t remember his parents very well, and so had never been anyone’s ‘mini’ before. He knew that he and Tony weren’t related, and therefore didn’t look anything alike (actually, Pepper did say quite often that they shared similarities, and that it ‘must be fate’, something which always made him smile), but the idea of actually taking after someone in any which way, made him feel so accepted and actually part of a family.

“I was thinking about using these as a frame to make a pair of sunglasses that connected to an AI, either FRIDAY or a new one. You could help me, if you want? Oooh, you could be my model! We could even see if we could add a retinal scanner which tracks eye movements so that you won’t have to give instructions verbally.” he was already cooking up the plans in his head, getting excited to get started and even more so to do it with Peter. And think of all the ways this could help the teen! Not just with protecting himself or every day communication, but when he started school again too, because there was no way Tony Stark was sending his kid to school without any form of protection. They could add in so many features-

“R-really? For m-me?”

“Yeah, they look good on you.” Tony replied with a loving smile, that he didn’t even realise was on his face, pushing the glasses back up the boy’s nose, because they were a little big on him and kept slipping down. “And not just because I have excellent taste, although that certainly helps.”

“That’s so cool, Mr Stark!” Peter cheered with a beaming grin of his own, clearly just as excited at the idea of lab time as he was.

Tony looked at his phone when he felt it vibrate for the seventh time, seeing a load of texts from Pepper asking if he’d found Peter and whether they were coming back.

“We better head back now, Pete. Pep's worried."

The boy’s smile immediately dropped at the idea of going back there, the carefree and excited attitude he’d adopted mere seconds ago gone, but he nevertheless allowed himself to be helped up to his feet, as he didn't want Pepper to be worried. He chewed at his lip nervously, feeling guilty for leaving the woman concerned about him.

“Let's straighten you up a little bit.” Tony stated absentmindedly, pulling up the teen’s suit jacket from where it had been half way rolled down his arms, before going to button up the top buttons of Peter’s shirt again. He then bent down to pick up the tie, which had been thrown off to the side, and draped it over the boy’s neck. He’d been teaching Peter how to tie it earlier, and saw no reason why he shouldn’t let him practice a little bit more and see if he still remembered from this morning. Plus, it gave them a little more time before going back. "You gonna show me how to do it, kid?”

Peter nodded and begun mumbling each step Tony had told him earlier, tying it with shaky fingers, and looking towards the man after every step to make sure that it was right.

“And p-pull it up.” the teen finished, pulling the knot up to his collar.

Tony was unreasonably proud when he did it right. Sure, the thin end was a little too long, but that could easily be hidden behind the jacket. “Come ‘ere.” he gestured for the boy to step closer, which he did. Tony straightened out the suit, before running a hand through the boy’s hair to straighten that out too, just to ruffle it again when finished, which earn another smile from the boy. “You did great.” As usual, the teen positively beamed at the praise, always happy when he received positive feedback after being starved of any kind words for so long, he now got a lot of it these days. “Now, are you ready to go back?”

Peter took a deep breath, feeling a lot better now that he’d been given time to clear his head. “Yeah,” he replied, holding out his hand for Tony to take. He knew he probably looked childish, but he wanted to keep him close while he still could.

Them holding hands as they walked back to the courtroom didn’t last very long, as they soon changed position to Peter being pressed against Tony’s side with the man’s arm slinked over his shoulder. Approaching the large doors, they could hear the loud voices coming from inside, which had the teen freeze in his steps and curl up into him.

Pepper had told Tony that Happy was guarding the doors to stop anyone from following them, so he quickly text the man to clear entry because he and Peter were coming back in before turning to the boy. 

“I don’t know if they're going to call you up there again, or what’s going to happen, but listen closely. Take a deep breath, and loosen up a little.” he instructed the teen, making him relax his previously tensed shoulders. “You can do this. If you act confident, you might even start to believe it yourself. Just fake it until you make it, okay? And remember,” he pressed his finger to the middle of the glasses again and pushed them up, “no one can see what’s going on inside your head. No one can hurt you. And Pep and I are with you no matter what is said. Got it?"

Peter nodded a little unsurely at first, but that soon turned into an affirmative nod after taking another deep breath and straightening up his spine in a false confidence, just like he’d been advised. That being said, just as the man went to open the door the teen threw himself in for one last hug before pulling away and getting into ‘character'. He figured that maybe it would be easier to act confident if he were pretending to be someone else, and who better to be than Mr Stark himself? He was wearing the man’s sunglasses after all.

So, when the man stepped into the room, Peter stepped in after him, with what he hoped was the same posture, same stance, and same air of confidence radiating off of him that he had. He probably looked like a little kid trying- and failing- to walk in their daddy’s much larger shoes, but oh well. He put on the same expression of disinterest that Tony had when in public, which was actually fairly easy since he had plenty of experience at blanking everything out and not giving a reaction that would set someone off, and that was pretty similar to this.

Peter didn’t let the stares and the mumblings of everyone throw him off, and he absolutely refused to look in Carson’s direction and see the man’s spiteful smirk that was surely on his face for the sole purpose of freaking him out. No, he kept his chin up with his eyes firmly planted on the back of Tony’s head, following his lead. If he can do it, you can do it.

Turns out that they did want him to go back up, unfortunately, which Peter begrudgingly accepted and waved Tony off when the man tried to object on his behalf.

Standing at the front, once again, he gave Pepper a weak smile in the hopes that it would get rid of some of the worry he still felt guilty for putting on her face. He had to admit, the blue tinted sunglasses did make standing in front of everyone a lot less daunting, oddly enough, and he understood now what Tony meant by ‘nobody will be able to see what you’re thinking or how you’re feeling. Think of it as like a barrier between you and them’. He didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing his eyes tearing up, or accidentally making eye contact with someone and feeling awkward about it. It was a lot better.

“Your honour, permission to have the defendant removed from the room during this part of the questioning?” Murdock asked, and a hope filled Peter’s heart. Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes.

The judge took a few moments to decide before replying “Permission granted.”

Oh thank gods.

Peter tried his very best to ignore the way that Carson’s eyes bore into him as he was escorted out of the room, but he still felt a shiver run up his spine. As soon as the doors were closed behind the man and he was no longer in sight to hurt him, Peter physically felt his body sag in relief.

Murdock was stood in front of him, and Peter regarded the man with fear, knowing he was going to begin asking him questions again.

He looked towards Tony for reassurance and the man gestured with his hands for him to take a deep breath. ’Take a deep breath, and loosen up a little. You can do this.’ The man’s earlier words echoed in his head, and Peter really wanted to live up to those expectations for him.

“Mr Parker, I’m glad you came back. Are you ready to try again?” Murdock asked, and Peter nodded timidly in agreement. He then realised that the man couldn’t see him, and opened his mouth to likely make some sort of garbled sound that would only serve to embarrass him further, until, as though the man had sensed the head movement, he began to speak again.

“We’ll take it slower this time. If there’s anything you don’t want to answer just write down that you want to skip it on the paper. This isn’t an interrogation, we just want to give you a chance to state your side of things.”

Peter again nodded, feeling slightly reassured by the man’s words. He was still confused though at how the blind man again seemed to sense the motion and continued talking.

“You know what Carson is being trialed for, would you say that it’s true? He abused you?”

Peter stared at the man with eyes that would show so much pain and uncertainty if they weren’t hidden behind blue lenses, his lips slightly parted before the bottom one was bitten down into by his teeth. Peter looked down and picked up the pen he’d dropped earlier which someone had placed back on the desk, before looking over to Tony and Pepper unsurely. The woman gave him a smile and a nod, either to tell him that yes, he was abused, or just to reassure him, he didn’t know. But either way, it was everything he needed.

Peter moved the pen to the paper, pausing just as the tip met it to close his eyes as he decided on what to say. Eventually, his head decided for him, having had it beaten into him that he got what he deserved and to never snitch, he simply scribbled down ‘I don’t know’.

He grimaced at how stupid he probably sounded, but his attention was quickly then stolen by the voice of a woman who’d been hired to read out everything he wrote for those who couldn’t read it. Alarmed, he stared at her. He hadn’t been expecting that, and he was glad that he hadn’t written anything descriptive down because he’d hate to hear someone else reading out a sob story he wrote. That would be a next level of pathetic.

“You don’t know?” Murdock asked incredulously, as though the correct answer were simple even if to Peter it really wasn’t. “Well, what would you consider abuse?”

The teen’s brows scrunched, thrown by the question. Why was he being asked that? Wasn’t it obvious? Peter moved to write again. ‘Hurting someone a lot’. As soon as he wrote it and it was read out, he realised where the man was going with this.

“And when you got to the hospital, you had a lot of bruises among other injuries, which when asked about you said to the nursing staff, quote- ‘They wouldn’t stop hurting me. I tried to get away, but they wouldn’t stop. Make it stop.’- unquote.”

Peter physically repelled at the sickeningly familiar words, tensing at the reminder that he’d told on the Carsons the very day he’d gotten away from them, too delirious from exhaustion, pain and fear to think of any consequences. He’d been fading in and out of consciousness at the time, and when he properly woke up he’d hoped that it had been a dream he’d made up in his head. He fearfully looked towards the door Carson had been led out of, scared that he was there and had heard, and was now coming to hurt him for it.

“That sounds a lot like your definition of abuse, doesn’t it?” He continued, and Peter really wanted to go home again but he knew he had to answer at least something before he could be allowed to finish. He wanted to make Tony proud, so he refrained from running again.

Peter nodded in reply, before hurriedly going to write down an excuse for the man who’d hurt him so badly, because it wasn’t the same.

‘Yes, but it’s different- I deserved it.’

“How is it different, Mr Parker? What could you have possibly done to deserve being abused and starved by the adults meant to look after you?”

Peter was frightfully aware of everyone’s eyes on him. The dead silence in the room making goosebumps spread up his neck, as he knew they were waiting for him to answer. He looked over to Tony and Pepper for reassurances, wanting to run and cling to them again. If he’d been asked this a month ago, he would have responded with the simple fact that he hadn’t done anything. It was just his mere presence that qualified him to being hurt. Because Peter Parker wasn’t someone you wanted around, he was bad luck, he was taking up space that he didn’t deserve to occupy, and burdening everyone he came across. His presence alone made people want to beat him. That’s why people always hurt him, and those that didn’t never lasted long. Six years with his parents, five with his aunt and uncle, and three getting beaten and thrown around homes.

That was, until, the Starks came along. They made him question everything, by not hitting him, never withholding food or clothes or love from him, by actually being happy when he spoke, and not getting angry every time he made a noise or breathed too loud. And now they were adopting him. They disproved the theory that good homes never lasted, and, yeah, he felt sick every time he entertained the thought of the Starks paying for their decision to keep him by meeting the same gory ending as his parents or aunt and uncle, but he pushed that horrible thought deep down because he logically knew it was unreasonable.

They made him question everything. Whether he really did deserve to be hurt just for existing, or, maybe, he just had bad luck and ran into a series of bad people.

Peter stared blankly at Murdock, unable to reply as all these thoughts ran around his head. He glanced back over to the Starks. He wanted to run over to them and hug them, and thank them so so much for being nice to him and caring about whether he ate or slept or was in pain. Tell them that he loved them. But he knew he wasn’t brave enough to say any of that. To risk being rejected and being so vulnerable in front of people.

Eventually, it must have become clear to everyone that the practically catatonic teen wasn’t going to answer, as Murdock said “Alright, next question. Remember, it’s completely fine if you don’t want to answer something.”

Peter gripped the pen tightly in his hands, trying to cease the shaking as he nodded.

“If possible, can you think back to the first time Mr Carson insinuated that he wanted to carry out any sexual acts with you. How long was it after you first moved in with them and what happened?”

It may have seemed unreasonable to ask someone to think that far back for one specific event, but for Peter, every single time Carson touched him was ingrained graphically into his memory, until the assaults became too frequent that they all started to blend together. He could remember the date, what they were both wearing, what he could smell, the very time to the exact minute that Carson touched him for the first time. He remembered it all.

Peter sat up in his bed when Carson came in, shrinking back as the man stumbled drunkenly over to him, cigarette which smelled like it had something more than tobacco in it between his fingers. The worst the teen imagined happening was a few harsh words or a beating, both of which he knew how to handle. He sat in confusion as the man sat down on the bed next to him, eying him wordlessly with a small smirk. After a while of that the thirteen year old fiddled with his hands nervously, before practically leaping out of his skin when the man placed his large hand on his thigh. Confusion along with a deep discomfort running deep within the naive teen, making him squirm with the desire to get away. 

‘What-what are you- ’

The boy’s words were silenced as lips crashed against his, a startled yelp making its way from his mouth as another of the man’s hands ran up under his shirt and pushed him backwards onto the bed.

Peter blinked to clear his vision as everything swam back into focus, clenching his jaw tightly shut to hold in the screams that wanted to rip to the surface.

In a thrilling rush he was unable to process, he began to scribble down explanations, words, sentences, anything to convince everyone- the Starks- that he hadn’t wanted to do it. That he hadn’t ‘thrown himself’ at Carson like the man had said not even an hour ago.

‘Two weeks after I got there. His hands were all over me and he pushed me back onto the bed. I tried to push him off but’ but… he wasn’t strong enough. Peter grabbed handfuls of his hair, pulling violently at it as though trying to force out the memories. He stumbled backwards, staring at the paper. His handwriting was near discernible in his mad rush to get it all out, but by some wonder the woman responsible for reading what he wrote was able to figure it out, her words echoing through the room.

He’d had enough, he didn’t want to do anymore. No more. He grabbed the pen and scribbled down ‘no more’ before belatedly adding please at the end. He looked towards Murdock for permission, who in turn asked if he was sure. The teen nodded desperately.

He didn’t want to be there any longer.

Pepper shifted in her seat, ready to wrap the boy up in her arms if he was allowed down.

The judge asked Miss Low whether she wanted to ask Peter any questions first, but thankfully the woman must have had some morality, or just realised that questioning the teen wouldn’t help her in anyway and would just make herself look like a shitty person trying to victim blame a kid. She said she had no questions and the judge granted Peter permission to sit back down, barely finishing the sentence before the boy quickly ran down into Pepper’s waiting arms, squeezing himself in between both her and Tony again.

“You did so well, sweetie. So brave, we’re so so proud of you.” She kissed his forehead and rocked slightly from side to side as he sniffled quietly into her neck, glad he wasn’t full on crying.

Tony patted the boy’s knee, and Peter let one of his arms drop from around Pepper’s neck to hold the man’s hand, feeling the billionaire squeeze it gently in return.

“And now it’s all over. You don’t have to go up there ever again.”

Pepper’s word turned out to be true, as now that everyone had been up to the stand it was time for the jury to decide on a sentencing. They were dismissed, and soon after everyone else was allowed to leave until they were called back for the final verdict too.

Peter was tired and took some convincing to get up, the stressed teen not really understanding what was going on and just assuming that he was being led to another horrible experience. Once they explained that they were getting getting out of there for a break, he perked up and stood with everyone, staying stuck to Pepper’s side and holding tightly onto Tony’s hand.

They walked out of the large room together after waiting for most of the other people to go first so that the teen didn’t have to walk through a crowd. Once finally through the large doors again, Tony pulled Pepper and Peter to stand to one side while he went to go speak to Murdock, telling Happy to make sure that no one harassed them, even though he was sure that if someone did try and approach Peter, the woman was more than capable of handling it.

“Murdock?” Tony called as he approached to get the man’s attention from the woman he was talking to. Both people turned to look in his direction, ending the conversation they were having. Tony could faintly hear Pepper’s voice in the back of his head telling him that it was rude to cut into people’s conversations, but his need for answers to his questions overrode that. "How's it looking so far? We're winning, right?” How could we not be?

Murdock didn’t answer him straight away, instead turning to the woman he’d been speaking with and introducing them both. “Mr Stark, Miss Mainstone. Miss Mainstone, Mr Stark.” He gestured to each of them as he said their names, and Tony gave a brief head nod as introduction, not at all liking how his question was danced around. It made him antsy.

“Miss Mainstone is actually in charge of legal, and we were just discussing whether we provided a solid case and evidence. There is no denying that Carson raped and abused Mr Parker, so already that’s at least a few decades that he’ll likely be sentenced for. It also never helps in court when the defendant acts out, so Carson’s outburst earlier really did nothing in his favour. However, I’m unsure whether we provided sufficient enough evidence of him sexually trafficking Mr Parker.”

Tony's eyes narrowed at the words, because seriously, what the fuck? "He’s a fucking child and was getting raped by the people who were supposed to be looking after him. Surely no one's stupid enough to believe that he willingly messed around with kids at school during that. He wouldn't do that.” he was still furious about everything Carson had said and everything he’d accused Peter of. Even more so as he knew that those false accusations and horrible words would no doubt be swimming around the teen’s head for at least another few weeks.

The woman spoke next, and Tony turned to face her accusingly. “We understand that. But without any evidence we can’t prove that Carson had anything to do with it. It's entirely up to the jury whether they’re going to charge him for that based purely off of presumptions.” she paused in her words at the man’s death glare, lowering her voice as though the next thing she was going to say was top secret. “Look, we’ve still got people working very hard this very minute to try and find some evidence for it. We've gone through Carson’s phone, checked his emails and money transactions, but there hasn't been anything. If the jury decides not to charge him for it then we may just have to cut our losses. Unless you can get Peter to say something soon.”

Tony looked back over to the boy, who was exhaustedly leaning against Pepper and staring blankly into a space. Today had been both physically and mentally exhausting for him, and he’d been so brave. Tony knew they probably wouldn’t get anything more out of him even if they tried, and he didn’t want to pressure him to talk when he’d already pushed his limits today. Still, he most definitely wasn’t going to ‘cut their losses’ as she put it, Tony could and would afford to take the bastard to court every day for the rest of their lives if that’s what it took, because that monster was not getting away with a single thing he did to his kid.

“If he was selling Peter out, and he was smart about it, he probably would have had them pay in cash so we can’t track transactions, right?” Tony thought aloud, trying to keep a logical head on so he could figure out some way they could get hard-core evidence the jury couldn’t question. He’d plant it himself if he had to. “Or what if the other two were Carson’s friends. Since no emails or messages were sent, that’d explain it. Have you interrogated any of the Carson’s contacts? We have the people who did it’s DNA from the rape test, couldn’t we just compare the two to see if it was any of them?” he looked expectantly at the woman, who pursed her lips in annoyance at the assumptions she hadn't already thought of that. It was her job after all.

“We have questioned some of their close contacts and other neighbours about whether they knew anything about the abuse, but we can't blame anyone or force them to take a DNA test without any solid evidence for suspection.” she said, “It is likely that, if the other two men weren't friends with Carson and did pay for time, that they met over an online site where he shared photos of Mr Parker. We currently still have people going through various pornography websites, but it takes an incredibly long time to narrow it down and run facial recognitions.”

Wait… pornography websites. She thinks that there are pictures of his kid, vulnerable and hurt, out there for the world to see? Out there for some sick bastards to take pleasure from? Someone could be getting off on videos of the boy being defiled right now.

And just like that Tony was ready to say goodbye to his breakfast. Fuck.

He swallowed a few times until the queasy feeling died down, before going to talk. “If there’s anything to find out there I’ll be able to find it much quicker than all of your agents put together. Give me an hour.” He didn’t want to, didn’t want to risk seeing videos of the kid like that, but he knew he’d have a better chance at finding evidence online than any of them did.

The woman blinked at him as though debating whether to accept the ‘request’ or not. “I’m afraid we cannot employ outside help for this.”

“But if an anonymous source happened to send you evidence, you’d have to accept it, right?”

The woman stared at him again, pursing her lips before giving in. “If the evidence turned out to be true and helpful, then yes.”

Without saying anything else or bothering to excuse himself, he gave the woman a victorious grin before turning on his heels to go back to Pepper and Peter.

Peter had been staring at the floor, but immediately perked up as Tony came back, his eyes lighting ever so slightly in relief which warmed the man’s heart seeing that the kid actual liked having him around. Sometimes, the amount of progress they made in just over a month shocked him, and it scared him how easy it was to get the boy’s trust, even now. It would be so easy to take advantage of his clearly natural-trusting nature. Something that had definitely happened before.

Videos of him. There could be videos of him online being-

Tony met the boy’s doe-eyes, and not for the first time found himself wondering just what horrors they’d seen.

“Tony, is everything alright?” Pepper asked in concern at the man’s pale face and odd behaviour.

“Yeah, yeah, I just… I have an errand I need to run, it’ll only take an hour max, so you’ll have to go out for lunch without me.” He purposely glanced in Peter’s direction when he said errand, and Pepper seemed to get the gist that it was regarding the boy, but it wasn’t something they should discuss in front of him.

Peter looked up at him in complete heartbreak at hearing that he was leaving, and the man would’ve lost his resolve to go had this not been regarding the boy’s well being.

“And this errand, is it important enough that it can’t wait?” She asked carefully, clearly curious and wanting to know more but keeping up the discrete conversation.

“Yeah, it needs to be done now, but I’ll meet up with you both as soon as I’m  finished.”

Peter whined unhappily, standing up to his feet and wrapping his arms around the man’s stomach in a hug so that he couldn’t leave. “Please.” The boy whimpered softly, needing both him and Pepper with him to feel safe.

Tony patted the teen’s back awkwardly, thinking about how Peter would feel if he knew the real reason that he had to go.

The kid would go through times of distancing himself and being scared of them, to moments of extreme clinginess. The clingy days were getting more and more frequent as he grew more comfortable with them, particularly if they were around other people or the boy was feeling relaxed enough to cuddle with them both on the sofa at home.

Pepper and Tony loved it when he was comfortable enough to cling to them, always accepting it, but it was hard not to notice that sometimes, when he was going through the clingy moments, that he ended up showing quite a childish behaviour too. They’d caught him with the top of his thumb in his mouth a few times now, and after the third time they’d done some research and even spoken to a professional who told them that it was a coping mechanism, that he was trying to revert to an age where he felt the safest, and that as long as it didn’t effect his day to day life they should encourage it.

After being assured that it wasn’t harmful, they had no problem supporting the teen through those moments. It wasn’t like he was insisting on being spoon fed or anything, he usually just wanted to have a Disney marathon, eat pancakes, and play with legos or draw for a bit, which was fun for all of them really. The professional had also said that it was a good sign he felt comfortable enough around them to show these changes.

They usually found his clinginess incredibly sweet, and counted themselves blessed to have the boy’s trust. But it did make leaving him for any amount of time (even just stepping into another room) very hard.

“I’ll be an hour max, kiddo. You’re gonna be just fine.” He promised, running a hand through the teen’s hair.

As expected, the words were of no help at all. When the teen got into one of these moods it was like he thought the world was going to end as soon as one of them stepped out of sight, and so Tony was unsurprised when the teen whined tearfully and tried to grip onto him even tighter as he pulled away.

Thankfully Pepper saved him before he could feel too guilty about leaving the kid when he was upset, as she gently put a hand on Peter’s shoulder and pulled him back.

“Come on sweetie, we’ll go get some lunch and then we can call Rhodey to see how Morgan’s doing. Does that sound good?” She knew he’d be desperate to check up on the baby after this long away from her, so it was no surprise when he turned around to her and nodded with conviction.

Tony stepped away to leave, and unanimously the boy’s head snapped back round to see him, lower lip wobbling and one of his hands reaching out as though asking to be held. Tony didn’t let himself be guilted into staying though, he needed to do this for the kid after all, so he once again made the promise “one hour,” before stepping back, leaving Pepper to try cheer Peter up.

~~~~~

After twenty minutes of breaking into the dark web (which was laughably easy) and searching through the hundreds of accounts linked to the name Michael Carson -and even checking the ones under the name Peter Parker- he came up empty. It was disgusting how many underage pornography sights were out there, and Tony was about to count his blessings and hope that Peter simply wasn’t on any of them, until he got another idea.

Carson had used an alias name to buy illegal drugs, so why wouldn’t he use the same name for other illegal activities too?

What had it been, Scott? Scrap? Skip? Skip, he was pretty sure that was it. He couldn’t remember the last name though, no matter how hard he tried.

Happy was great at remembering faces and names, so he quickly called him and hung up as soon as he got the answer, not having the time to answer any of his questions.

Westcott. Skip Wescott.

Really, out of all the names he could’ve used to be an ass, he chose that.

Searching under that name, he skimmed through accounts and had FRIDAY run facial recognitions on the 98 accounts with usernames similar to that. Two minutes later, he finally had a result.

Tony’s heart thudded in his chest at seeing it.

Despite this hopefully giving them more solid evidence against Carson, and another crime to add to his long list of sentencings, some part of Tony had really been hoping that he wouldn’t find anything. That his kid’s face and body wasn’t on some horrible website, for strangers on the internet to get off on.

He swallowed dry before making himself click on the account. He needed to see if there was actually anything of use on there before he sent it through for a legal team to see.

As soon as he did this he was met with a video at the top, apparently the account owner’s ’top hit’ at 1054 views and 612 saves. Tony didn’t look at any of the 200 comments beneath the video, instead clicking on the play button of the video titled ‘Baby $lut Gets a Visitor’.

The video started in a dark room, with a camera being tilted this way and that before finally being settled onto a stand to record. Suddenly a dim light was turned on, until the room was just about bright enough to see. The camera was focused on a bed, with a tiny figure curled up on top of it under a thin blanket. It took just milliseconds for Tony to recognise his kid, fast asleep and entirely defenceless against the men who were going to abuse him.

Tony’s stomach turned at the sight, at seeing his kid before they’d met him. At seeing him when he was in that place, at seeing him on a website like this and probably not even knowing it. Did the kid know he’d gotten filmed and put online? Tony didn’t have time to dwell on whether it was better he knew or not, as a masked figure stepped into the frame.

It was clear that the new person wasn’t Carson, as they had an entirely different body figure, and Tony belatedly registered that the bastard must be behind the camera filming as the video zoomed in on the boy while the new man got closer.

Tony watched frozen as the man climbed onto the bed next to the sleeping teen, the boy’s unconsciousness and oblivion not lasting long, as his eyes soon fluttered open likely at the dip in the bed, and it wasn’t long after that until his eyes were wide open in pure terror at the sight above him.

He woke up to a masked stranger climbing on top of him.

Peter stared in utter horror as the stranger mounted him, pulling the blanket down to reveal the boy’s heaving chest. Tearful eyes looked over to something- someone- behind the camera, before looking straight at the lense and seemingly straight into Tony’s soul in terror.

There was a cruel, belittling laugh from behind the camera, the man responsible apparently finding amusement from the boy’s horrified expression and his weak attempt at pushing the stranger, whose rough hands were now tugging off his shirt, away.

Tony quickly turned the video off before he could see anything more, since it was pretty fucking clear where it was going without him needing to watch. Shit.

The man pushed away from the table with his chair, and ran both of his hands through his hair before tugging at it sharply. There was a searing pain in his chest for the kid, his heart physically hurting at what he just saw. His head was buzzing in raw rage, so much so that he couldn’t even recognise it as he blankly turned back to the computer he’d been using and scrolled down to the comment section.

Two hundred and thirty one comments.

Most of which were from other perverted men, saying how ‘hot’ they found the video and other disgusting comments about what they themselves wanted to do to the underage kid. There were a few in between from people saying how fucked up this was, but even those ones had to be questioned, as it wasn’t like they could have just accidentally stumbled across a video like this, without actively searching for this type of porn.

Tony mindlessly told FRIDAY to take a record of all the accounts that had interacted with the page, while he emailed it to the police working on the case. He’d make sure to have the sight taken down later, because the last thing he’d want is for Peter to find it and see all of the vile comments of people encouraging what had happened to him. Plus he didn’t want this online for more people to see, even though he was frightfully aware of the very real possibility that someone could have downloaded the videos onto their personal servers, and so there was no way he could ever rest assured knowing that no one would use his kid for pleasure again. He could never promise his kid that there weren’t still photos and videos of him out there, and he felt horrible for it.

After a few minutes of fighting down nausea, Tony got himself to scan through the rest of the videos on the account. He wanted to find the two men who’d raped his kid, but it seemed that in every video the men kept their identities safely hidden behind masks. Which was fucking infuriating that they granted themselves that bit of privacy whilst leaving Peter’s face and body clear as day in frame for anyone to recognise. Fucking cowards.

Tony slammed the laptop closed and stood up. Once today was over with and this had been used as evidence, he’d see if he could figure out who was underneath the mask and track down the accounts who followed the sight. Then he’d make sure it was taken down.

He was just about to return to Pepper and Peter when said woman sent him a message. It was a picture of the teen being carried by Happy to the car, because apparently he’d fallen asleep in the cafe they went to. The driver looked mildly displeased at the situation, but it was easy to see the small smile he was fighting to hold back.

Tony smiled slightly at the sight, even if the image did now make him draw painful parallels to Peter being recorded sleeping while a man climbed on top of him.

He told Pepper to make sure that Happy minded the boy’s head when he put him back in the car, and that he’d meet them back at the court house in a few minutes.

He really needed to be able to see the kid in person.

~~~~~ 

About twenty minutes after he reunited with his wife and kid, everyone was called back into court as ‘new evidence had come into light’. Obviously, Tony knew what this evidence was, and was glad that Peter wasn’t required to go in to hear it.

Pepper and Tony waited in the car with the teen, who’d woken up from a nightmare just minutes after he’d fallen asleep, trying to distract him with talk about what they could do tomorrow. Happy went in to see what was being said, and reported back that, as expected, they talked about the video an anonymous source had just sent in, showing that Carson did traffic Peter and even recorded it to go online. Apparently the bastard had exploded in a rage and started demanding to see Peter, so it was definitely a good thing that they hadn’t gone inside.

Tony had his arm over the boy’s shoulder in the car, as the teen leaned back into him whilst looking at Pepper, who continued to do her best to try make conversation and distract him, which was going better than expected. She even got a smile from the boy, as he rubbed tiredly at his eyes.

When Happy came back, all they had left to do was wait for the final hearing, which could take any amount of time depending on whether the members of the jury had any common sense or not.

It was annoying that some people had the audacity not to believe that the kid was sexually assaulted, and thought that he in any way wanted it. Tony knew for the most part that it was probably due to the fact that Peter was a teenage boy, and teenage boys had a reputation for their over-active sex drive, but seriously, he was thirteen, a literal child, and this was a grown ass man who no doubt abused him.

Nevertheless, it took five hours for the jury to finally come to an agreement, and another hour for everyone to take their seats again before the verdict could be announced.

No matter how dumb people could be, there was no way that twelve people could look at Peter’s situation and collectively decide that it wasn’t abuse, so Tony wasn’t nervous. He just hoped Carson would get a good amount of years, at least forty. Pepper seemed to be in a similar state of mind, but for the worry that kept showing on her face every time she looked at Peter, who wasn’t fairing so well. He seemed to be silently crying into the woman’s shoulder, thumb at the tip of his mouth while she stroked back his hair.

Peter squeezed his eyes tightly closed and turned his head slightly to hide his face in Pepper’s clothing, as the judge was given a slip of paper with the final verdict on it.

Time moved despicably slow. The entire room deathly silent as they waited in anticipation for the result. Pepper looked seconds away from going up there and reading it out herself when the judge finally spoke.

“Michael Carson, the members of the jury find you guilty of a severe case of child abuse, child neglect, the sexual abuse and trafficking of a minor, buying and drugging a minor, and creating and posting illegal pornography. You have been sentenced to seventy-five years with no chance of parol in a Supermax Prison-”

“No!” Carson yelled as two guards stood him up, he looked panicked for just a second, before an animalistic anger took over his face and he turned to glare at Peter.

Everyone sat in the public seating area had broken out into cheers at the victory, all of their hearts clearly having gone out to the boy during this ordeal as well. Tony and Pepper had met each other with matching smiles at hearing the sentencing, while Peter opened his eyes and looked at both of them in mild shock. They all turned to look at Carson as he continued yelling, Pepper reaching over to cover Peter’s ears with both of her hands.

“You’ll fucking pay for this slut! Don’t think you’re safe now with new mommy and daddy just ‘cause I’m away. We’ll fucking get you-”

It took one click on something that Tony had had prepared on his watch throughout this whole ordeal to shut him up. As soon as it was pressed, a red-headed leather-clad assassin landed directly in front of Carson, arriving seemingly out of no where, and before anyone could do or say anything about it, one of the heels on her feet was stomped painfully onto the man’s foot, before that leg came up to knee him in the groin as the other leg skilfully came up in a roundhouse kick, hitting the bastard square in the jaw and knocking him over onto the floor. It all happened in one swift movement and then, just like that, she was gone. Pulled up into a vent by a friend’s hand as though she were never there to begin with.

Tony watched all this with a shit eating grin on his face, remembering to thank the spy twins later for their generosity, even though he really wished he could have been the one to knock him on the side of the head, or perhaps fry his dick off with a repulser beam. Pepper looked just as amused, all though clearly trying to hide it as she continued to cover the boy’s ears and shield his eyes from the violent display.

Carson was easily dragged out of the room, half unconscious and bleeding, as confused mumblings broke out around the room, some people even applauding.

The judge took a moment to regain his composure before clearing his throat and thanking everyone for being there today and dismissing them.

Everyone started filing out, but the Starks remained sat down, letting the teen regain his composure before they made a move. A few people tried to approach them to ask how they were, but as sweet as their intent may be, Happy thankfully kept them away. Soon the room was empty but for them, it had been a long emotional hard day, and everyone had been desperate to get home. Tony and Pepper were too, wanting more than anything to take their kid home and see their daughter, but they knew Peter needed a moment to calm down after everything.

So they sat. Peter had his arms wrapped around Pepper’s neck, a bit like a baby monkey clinging to its mother, as the woman gently rocked them both back and forth. Tony sat next to them, rubbing small circles into the teen’s back as they both waited for him to stir from the empty space he was currently staring blankly into.

Eventually, maybe five minutes later, Peter lifted his head a little and turned to look at Tony, the man giving him a small- hopefully reassuring- smile. Wordlessly, the boy reached to take the sunglasses that had been pushed onto his head by Pepper off, passing them over to Tony. “I think these belong to you.” He mumbled, startling a laugh out of the man.

Tony then gently pushed the teen’s extended hand back towards him, saying “Keep them. They look better on you anyways. Besides remember what I said we could do with them tomorrow?”

Peter smiled at the compliment and reminder of their promised lab time, holding the glasses tightly in his hand before resting his chin back on top of Pepper’s shoulder as she mumbled “nothing too dangerous I hope.”

They all seemed to be in an agreement to speak in hushed tones as they allowed Peter to come to grips with everything, the boy clearly still in shock as he slipped back into silence until-

“Can we go home?” He asked quietly through a yawn, and Tony took a quick look at the time to find it coming up to nine. No wonder the kid was tired, he hadn’t slept at all except from that short nap in the car. Something told him that the boy would be sleeping like a log tonight though.

“We can go home as soon as you’re ready.” 

Peter dipped into silence once more, a look of painful concentration on his face as he clearly mulled everything over in his head. “Is-is he r-really gone?” He squeaked, the unsure question they’d been anticipating finally coming out. He looked up at Pepper with pure trust, as though she held all of the answers in the world, and it was so incredibly beautiful that the woman seemed choked for a moment.

“Yeah. Yeah, he’s gone. He can never hurt you ever again.”

The teen blinked at her, eyes wide in disbelief, before he rest his head once again on her and let her continue her rocking back and forth.

“P-pepper?”

They both choked, because up until now Peter had referred to her as nothing but Mrs Stark or even Mrs Potts. For him to use her first name was big progress.

The woman had the most delighted smile on her face, eyes gleaming, as she looked over to Tony as though to check that he’d heard it too. He smiled back, too happy seeing one of his wife’s beautiful smiles that she reserved for truly special occasions to be jealous.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I’m r-ready to go ho-home now.”

“Okay then my little prince, let’s get you home.”

~~~~~

They walked out of the building together, massive smiles on their faces at the victory they’d won today. The boy’s shock had worn off at some point during them exiting the court room, leaving way to an adrenaline-like, complete and utter joy. Peter thought he’d feel bad making Carson get locked away, but no. For the first time in years, he finally, finally, felt free.

The man who’d hurt him for months, and still haunted him to this day, was locked away, never to hurt him or anyone else ever again. Better yet, he was going home with the people who were becoming his adoptive parents, home where he’d be safe and cared for, something he’d wanted for three years but never thought he’d ever get.

He was elated, and he wanted to tell both Tony and Pepper how incredibly grateful he was for them. Grateful that they still wanted him, even after everything they’d heard today.

Peter got into the car, Pepper after him, and just as Tony got into the car too Peter leaped over to them, wrapping them both in a hug.

“Peter-” Pepper began to speak, smiling at the affection, but before she could continue the boy began to talk.

“Thank you. Thank you, thank you so much.” he said in a jumbled hurry, needing to get the words out before he lost them.

“Sweetie, you don’t have to thank us-”

“Thank you for wanting me. A-and Mr Stark, thank you for saving me... Again.”

The last word was said with a small depreciating laugh, like it was some inside joke that only Peter understood.

“What do you mean ‘again’, Pete?” Tony asked with brows furrowed in confusion, though there was still a hint of a smile on his face.

“You s-saved me. W-when I was little.” Peter admitted, which only added to the man’s confusion, now with a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

“I... I did?” he searched his head for when that could have possibly been, but there were a lot of kids in New York, there was no way he could remember every single one he’d ever encountered. Pepper and Tony both moved over in their seats, to allow Peter room to slip in between them.

The boy blinked up at the man with a soft smile as he continued to talk. “Yeah. W-when I was, like, s-seven I went to an expo, and the suits started going crazy, and Iron Man saved me.” Peter bit his lip and looked down at the continued blank stare he received. He knew it was silly to be disappointed that he didn’t remember, while the event had meant everything to Peter, it must have been one of many for Tony.

Pepper gasped as she remembered the 2010 expo where the Hammer drones had begun shooting at everybody. She panicked at the horrible thought of Peter being at that disastrous expo, and at such a young age too, he so easily could have been killed.

If it hadn’t been for her husband, apparently.

She looked over to the man in question to see if he had any idea what Peter was talking about.

“You were the kid in the iron man mask.” He said with slight unsureness, which soon faded when the boy’s head shot up and he nodded happily with a big grin. Tony let out an amazed laugh.

He only remembered that specific kid so clearly because he remembered how absolutely terrified he’d been when he saw such a small child standing in front of one of the massive machines Tony had designed. Holding his small arm up to fire a non-existent repulsor beam at it, so close to dying as a result of trying to follow in Iron Man’s footsteps.

Huh, wow, Peter had been giving him near heart attacks before they even properly met? That sounded about right.

It’s a small world after all.

Instead of saying any of those thoughts though, Tony instead slung his arm over the boy’s shoulders, and with a big grin said “So I guess you could say I'm your personal knight in shining armour then, huh? Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t do horses. I do have a pretty nice Mustang in a garage somewhere though, convertible, hot red, it’s yours if you want it.”

“Tony,” Pepper chastised lightly with a bright smile, one which brightened even more at Peter’s happy laugh. They both looked at the boy in between them with pure adoration on their faces.

The boy who they’d sworn would only be with them for a few days. The boy who’d quickly proven that wrong by stealing their hearts, from the first word he’d mumbled to them, and the first genuine smile he’d given them.

The boy who was becoming their son.

And wow, would you look at that, they both loved the boy with all of their hearts. Their son.